LP Annual Monitoring Report

Nicky Gavron: The London Plan Annual Monitoring Report for 2017-18 was due to be published in May this year. It now says Autumn 2019. This will be 18 to 30 months after the period in question, which does not allow for effective scrutiny. When can we expect it to be published, and what is being done to make sure future AMRs are not subject to the same delays?

The Mayor: I intend to publish the AMR in October. The delay in publishing the report this year is simply due to the considerable resource implications of the Examination in Public for the draft London Plan which took place earlier this year.
I aim to ensure that the 2018-19 version is published as soon as possible after the data has been collected and analysed.

LU Train operators

Andrew Boff: For the 2018/19 year can you please break down the number of London Underground train operators or instructor operators whose total gross compensation fell within the following bands:
£100,000 or over
£80,000 - £99,000
£70,000 - £79,000
£60,000 - £69,000

The Mayor: Total remuneration of train operators in 2018/19 is broken down in the following table:
Remuneration
No. Train Operators
£100,000 or over
10
£80,000 - £99,999
28
£70,000- £79,999
311
£60,000- £69,999
3,204
The average total remuneration for train operators in 2018/19 was £64,133.94, with 627 train operators who earned less than £60k in the same financial year. These remuneration values include basic salary, overtime payments, allowances and employer pension contributions.

High Streets

Nicky Gavron: Your new draft London Plan policy SD6 refers to “Town Centres and High Streets”, and references to both come throughout the plan. However, while Town Centres are mapped, listed and defined in Annex A, “High Streets” does not appear to be defined. For the London Plan and GLA purposes, what counts as “a high street”?

The Mayor: The draft London Plan recognises that high streets are one of London’s most characteristic urban features and that they play an important role in terms of local economic and social infrastructure, providing employment opportunities and promoting community and cultural exchange. Research is currently being undertaken into how adaptive strategies can be developed for high streets, which is intended to be published by the end of the year, and this will include a clear definition for high streets.

London Development Database

Nicky Gavron: I understand that the creation of a new version of the London Development Database is underway. When will it be ready, and will officers provide a briefing to Assembly Members when it goes live?

The Mayor: Work is underway on developing a new Database to replace the London Development Database. This will provide a live dataset of developments in the planning process. This will also eventually include live data about delivery on the ground. All of this data will be publicly available as a live data set.
The project is reliant on a number of partners including boroughs and planning back office system providers, and has received MHCLG funding.
Borough Leaders have been asked for their agreement to the relatively minor changes to local authority systems and data requirements. Once this has been agreed the Database is targeted to go live in Q1 2020.
Officers will be available to brief Assembly Members about the new database.

Control Risks (4)

Florence Eshalomi: Who at Crossrail authorised Control Risks to monitor trade union activity? Was it the project’s technical director Chris Sexton?

The Mayor: Crossrail Ltd. appointed Control Risks between 2010 and 2013. The Crossrail Ltd. senior management team of the time authorised the appointment of Control Risks.

Control Risks (3)

Florence Eshalomi: Were TfL nominees to the Crossrail Board aware of this monitoring? If they were, did they report back to TfL?

The Mayor: The appointment of Control Risks was a business decision taken solely by Crossrail Ltd..
Crossrail Ltd. informs me that the appointment of Control Risks and the information reports produced by them were not specifically discussed at a Crossrail Board meeting. This issue was not reported to Transport for London (TfL) by any member of the Crossrail Board.

Rail Devolution

Florence Eshalomi: In May 2018, the new Transport Secretary, Grant Schapps,said, “I've met the rail minister and urged him to end Great Northern's franchise with their appalling new Welwyn Hatfield timetable. I support @TFL London Overground taking over the line and we're making progress”. When can we expect the Government to devolve Great Northern to TfL?

The Mayor: I am pleased at the progress made by Transport for London (TfL) and the Department for Transport (DfT) towards the transfer of Great Northern services to TfL. It takes around two years to plan and deliver a transfer of services and TfL is currently working closely with the DfT to prepare a Business Case, with a view for a potential transfer to take place assuming the franchise ends as currently planned by the DfT in September 2021.
When I met the Secretary of State in August 2019 he agreed with my view that devolving these services to TfL will enable a range of proposed improvements for rail users in London and beyond, including all-day staffing, upgraded stations, better customer service, and more reliable service.

Dockless Bikes Law

Florence Eshalomi: Iunderstandthat TfL are looking to introduce a pan-London by-law to control where dock less bikes are left but that it could take a year. Can you update me on this work and explain why it will take so long to introduce?

The Mayor: Transport for London and London Councils are undertaking this work jointly, following agreement at London Councils’ Transport & Environment Committee (TEC). The proposed byelaw would be made once and would apply equally in every London borough.
Once in place, the byelaw will enable boroughs to specify where dockless rental bikes can or cannot be parked, thus minimising any unwanted clutter or obstruction. To achieve this, all 33 local authorities must agree on the wording of the byelaw, and each must delegate the power to make the byelaw to TEC, which in most cases will require the matter to be considered at full Council meetings. The byelaw would then be subject to Ministerial approval and public consultation.
The wording of the byelaw is currently being agreed with London boroughs, and I encourage them all to progress this important matter as quickly as possible.

TfL Tracking (1)

Gareth Bacon: From 8 July, TfL have been tracking passenger movements using the Underground’s Wi-Fi system and mobile phones, to gain data on how the transport network is being used. It has been reported that the system will track a mobile phone and provide the relevant data, even if the phone is not connected to the Wi-Fi network. Can you confirm whether that is correct?

The Mayor: When a mobile device is near one of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) station Wi-Fi access points, and has Wi-Fi enabled, the device will send a probing request to connect. These requests contain the media access control (MAC) address of the device, which TfL depersonalises using industry-standard methods. If the device is signed up to use TfL’s Wi-Fi services, TfL uses this depersonalised information to understand how customers as a whole travel on the transport network. TfL does not identify any individuals from the data collected. If a device has not signed up to use the free Wi-Fi provided on the London Underground network, the system identifies the device as an ‘un-authenticated device’ and TfL will not process the information from the device for travel pattern analysis. Customers can opt-out of Wi-Fi data collection by turning off Wi-Fi on their device, turning the device off, or putting the device in airplane mode while at stations. TfL has published detailed information on its website about its Wi-Fi data collection and how customers can opt-out.

22-23 Tileyard Road

Nicky Gavron: Did the GLA submit any evidence to the Planning Enquiry recently held regarding the application at 22-23 Tileyard Road & 196-228 York Way, GLA reference 4225, LPA case number, P2018/2355/FUL? If so, could you share it with us, and do you agree with the Planning Inspector’s decision to refuse planning permission?

The Mayor: The Planning Enquiry was a result of an appeal by the developer because Islington Council did not determine the application within the statutory period. My views on the scheme were set out in the stage 1 report for theCouncil andwere available for the Planning Inspector to consider. The report set out why the development did not comply with the London Plan and proposed remedial actions. The appointed Planning Inspector ruled against the development on the appeal so it was not referred to me for Stage 2.
The Stage 1 report isavailable onhttps://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/planning-applications-and-decisions/planning-application-search/22-23-tileyard-road-196-228-york-way

Cab Enforcement Unit (4)

David Kurten: Does the Mayor agree that six months is an unacceptable length of time to wait for a Met Police response to an allegation of a crime?

The Mayor: The Victims Code of Practice sets out the services one can expect from criminal justice agencies. The police must provide written confirmation of the crime once it has been reported and tell a victim how often they will update them on their investigation. The police must also give a victim updates on their investigation, such as when a suspect is arrested, charged, or released on bail. The time an allegation takes to reach a conclusion varies widely depending on the specific circumstances, including the complexity of the investigation.
Any victim who is unhappy with the level of service they have received from the MPS can, in the first instance, contact them directly. The MPS website has more details here: https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/c/complaints/
My London Victims’ Commissioner, Claire Waxman continues to campaign tirelessly for improvements to the service by the police and wider criminal justice partners.

Cab Enforcement Unit (3)

David Kurten: Has TfL ever communicated to the Met Police’s cab enforcement unit that the Police should not talk or communicate with certain individuals or certain trade union representatives within the taxi or private hire industry?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) is aware of a historic complaint made initially to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and then to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC, now Independent Office for Police Conduct) by a private hire trade organisation. The MPS and the IPCC both responded to the complainant.
The MPS Taxi and Private Hire Policing Team communicates and engages with any trade union representatives or industry groups it wishes to as part of its remit to improve the safety of travelling by taxi or private hire vehicle. This is not, and never has been, a decision for TfL.
TfL has regular scheduled meetings with a number of associations representing the interests of taxi and private hire licensees, including quarterly meetings with taxi driver associations as well as quarterly meetings with senior representatives of the main driver and operator representative bodies. TfL also meets with other stakeholders and individual licensees on an ad-hoc basis, to discuss any specific issues.
Both TfL and the MPS are open to meetings with trade associations on important safety or enforcement issues.

Norwood Junction station – step free access

Fiona Twycross: Please provide an update on progress towards making Norwood Junction Station step free.

The Mayor: Network Rail, which is responsible for the station’s infrastructure, recently completed a public consultation on its proposal for remodelling Norwood Junction station. This included the provision of step-free access as part of other works to increase station capacity and meet the requirements of the Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme. The consultation closed on 26 July 2019. The proposal remains unfunded at this point; its progression depends on the identification of funding from central government. Network Rail has stated that the works could be completed during the early 2020s if funding is identified.

Hammersmith Bridge Pontoons

Tony Devenish: What consideration has been given to introducing a temporary river bus service at Hammersmith Bridge using pontoons?

The Mayor: The geometry and depth of the river at this location make installation of a pontoon suitable for river buses impractical. It would require significant and expensive dredging works to widen the main channel to allow boats to berth at the pontoon in all tidal conditions while allowing safe passage of all other river traffic.
Transport for London (TfL) is doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the closure of the bridge, including making changes to the local bus network to improve links for people affected by the closure.

TfL travelcards – online purchase (1)

Fiona Twycross: How many people now buy annual travelcards online? Please provide figures by proportion and number.

The Mayor: Apart from a small number of sales via Visitor Centres, all annual Travelcards sold by Transport for London (TfL) are purchased through online channels.
There are currently around 67,000 annual Travelcards valid that have been purchased online, representing about 92 per cent of total sales by TfL; the other 8 per cent are purchased via Visitor Centres.

Zero-hunger city

Fiona Twycross: What support do you need from the Government to make London a zero-hunger city?

The Mayor: Addressing the unacceptably high levels of food insecurity is the focus of the first chapter of my London Food Strategy. London should be a zero-hunger city and I am doing everything within my power to ensure Londoners can eat well and feed their families, but the Government needs to do more.
The recent food insecurity measure published in the Survey of Londoners showed 400,000 children and 1.5 million adults, 60 per centof whom are working either full or part time, have low or very low levels of food security and subsequently struggle to access and afford a sufficient diet.
The cumulative impact assessment I published in July found that tax and welfare reforms since 2010 will push an extra 100,000 Londoners into poverty, including 75,000 children, by 2021/22. The government must therefore immediately reverse the effects of disastrous polices like the benefit freeze and Universal Credit, the latter of which they already acknowledge is linked to the shocking rise in foodbank use.

Child Poverty

Fiona Twycross: Have the Government’s austerity policies worsened child poverty in London?

The Mayor: The report I published in July analysing the cumulative impact of Government’s welfare changes on Londoners, found that tax and welfare reforms since 2010 will push an additional 75,000 London children into poverty by 2021-22. This number would likely be even higher if the effects of devasting cuts to other vital support services were also considered.
I urge the new government to radically reconsider its approach to, and immediately reverse the damage done by, policies like the benefit freeze and the two-child limit.
I’m doing all I can to support low income families by building a record number of affordable homes, freezing TfL fares, introducing the hopper fare, and improving access to childcare through my Early Years Hubs. My Good Work Standard is promoting better working conditions for families and I’m also working with the Child Poverty Action Group to deliver welfare benefits advice to parents in primary schools.

EU Londoners

Fiona Twycross: How many Londoners who are citizens of other EU or EEA countries have applied for settled status?

The Mayor: As of 30 June 2019, 340,870 applications have been made to the EU Settlement Scheme in London. This includes nationals from the EU and EEA, as well as Swiss nationals, and non-EEA national family members.

London Living Wage (2)

Fiona Twycross: Can you provide a breakdown of the total number of employers paying the London Living Wage, by year, since its introduction?

The Mayor: The London Living Wage campaign accreditation scheme began in 2011. The Living Wage Foundation have supplied information on the number of accredited Living Wage employers who have their headquarters in London.
There are now nearly 1,600 accredited London Living Wage employers. Below is a year by year breakdown of accreditations.
Year
No. of Accreditations
2011
4
2012
75
2013
104
2014
198
2015
198
2016
258
2017
285
2018
332
2019
145
Total
1599

London Living Wage (1)

Fiona Twycross: Can you provide a breakdown of the total number of Londoners receiving the London Living Wage, by year, since its introduction?

The Mayor: This information is not held by the GLA.
At present there are 1689 employers accredited by the Living Wage Foundation in London. However, data concerning the number of employees at each organisation who are paid at London Living Wage level now or in the past is not available.

Trifocal

Leonie Cooper: Is the Trifocal programme on track to meet its targets? How will you develop and enhance its successes in reducing business food waste?

The Mayor: The GLA’s successful Food Save programme has shaped the London Waste and Recycling Board and WRAP’s joint Trifocal project, targeting food waste reduction. The London Waste and Recycling Board reports that the Trifocal project is currently on track to meet all the deliverables set out in the Grant Agreement. For example, delivering food waste reduction training to environmental health practitioners, completing waste audits and working with community groups and hospitality businesses to reduce their food waste.
The evaluation of the remaining objectives in the Trifocal project requires evidence from the final waste assessments to show how much food waste has been reduced and other surveys from people, businesses and organisations that have taken part in the project. These results are expected inAutumn 2019.
TRiFOCAL closes in January 2020. A publicly available resource bank will be created and promoted across London, the UK and Europe. This will support organisations looking to reduce their food waste and include case studies and campaign activities.

Borough waste management (1)

Leonie Cooper: What progress have you made working with the Boroughs to submit their Reduction & Recycling Plans?

The Mayor: London waste authorities were split into three phases for developing their Reduction and Recycling Plans (RRPs) by 2020. Boroughs in Phase 1, 2 and 3 were asked to submit their RRPs in March 2019, June 2019 and December 2019 respectively.
I have received RRPs from 19 London boroughs as scheduled. I am due to receive RRPs from the remaining 14 boroughs by the end of December 2019.
My officers have reviewed every RRP that has been received and have provided recommendations on how the plans may be improved or where further work is required. The London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) Resource London programme has made support available to all boroughs for developing their RRPs.

Climate Action Week

Leonie Cooper: How will you be continuing the successful conversations started in London Climate Action Week?

The Mayor: I share your view that London Climate Action Week was a success. The week saw 150 events and brought together 20,000 people including climate change specialists, businesses, young people, community groups, NGOs, the culture sector and policy makers. New commitments were made from across London’s climate sector to accelerate action on energy efficiency, renewable energy, electric vehicles, fossil fuel divestment and more.
As announced at my launch event for Climate Action Week, the GLA will host a second London Climate Action Week in 2020. My team are currently reviewing evaluations from this year and consulting with stakeholders and will update on approach and plans for 2020 in due course.

LU Train operators (2)

Andrew Boff: How much did the highest paid LU train operator earn in 2018/19?

The Mayor: The highest total remuneration received by a train operator on London Underground in 2018/19 was £104,864.37.
This includes basic salary, overtime payments, allowances and employer pension contributions.
The reason for total remuneration exceeding £100k in that this employee is a test train operator who has been working extensive overtime and unsociable hours to train and familiarise other train operatives with the new signalling being installed on the Circle, Hammersmith & City, District and Metropolitan lines. The average total remuneration package of train operators was £64,133.94 in 2018/19.

Community Tree Planting

Leonie Cooper: When will you be announcing the successful recipients of the Community Tree Planting Grants?

The Mayor: The applicants to the Community Tree Planting Grants, part of my Greener City Fund, have been notified of the outcome of their applications, and these grants will be announced during September. Details of the successful projects will be published on my website at www.london.gov.uk/greenercity.
In the last two years my Community Tree Planting Grants have supported over 50 projects to plant 50,000 trees across London. In total, my tree planting programme has funded 175,000 trees since May 2016, with more planned this winter.
Later this year I will be announcing further opportunities for community groups and Londoners to plant thousands of trees during National Tree Week, which will run from 23 November until 1 December. This will build on London’s biggest ever tree planting weekend in December 2018, where we planted 79,000 trees in a single weekend.

Urban Greening Factor

Leonie Cooper: Now that London is officially a National Park City, will you commit to strengthening the Urban Greening Factor in the draft new London Plan, to match Berlin’s ambitious figures?

The Mayor: I am proud that London has become the world’s first National Park City, in recognition of the ambitious policies and actions we are taking to make our city even greener.
Included in these policies is the Urban Greening Factor (UGF) in my draft London Plan which ensures that new development incorporates high-quality green infrastructure that contributes to the greening of London. Policy G5 sets ambitious but achievable UGF targets that are informed by an evidence base and have been tested as part of the London Plan viability assessment.
The Biotope Area Factor applied in Berlin uses different weighting (e.g. giving a higher score for permeable paving) and so is not directly comparable to the UGF or necessarily more ambitious.
I am unable to make changes to the draft Plan at this stage. This issue was discussed at the hearing sessions for the London Plan Examination in Public (EiP) and we await the Inspector’s report and recommendations.

RE:NEW (1)

Leonie Cooper: Last year, in your answer to my question 2018/2742, you told me that under the RE:NEW programme, scheduled to end in April 2019, once installed, the 4,000 home retrofits should save around 3,700 tonnes of CO2 per annum (based on figures from previous RE:NEW supported retrofits). Can you provide an update on the number of homes successfully retrofitted under RE:NEW and how much carbon will be saved?

The Mayor: During this mayoral term the Mayor’s RE:NEW programme has retrofitted or contracted the retrofit of around 26,800 London homes, saving around 20,000 tCO2 per annum.
The extension period itself aimed to support the development of a further 4,000 home retrofits. At the start of the year, we were on track to deliver this ambition in full, however due to the demise of the Government feed-in-tariff, which also contributed to a major housing association contract falling through, the programme supported 2,343 homes. In addition, as part of the agreed successor programme with ERDF, we held back several multi-million pound projects for further development into deeper retrofit opportunities. This will mean that greater carbon reduction will be achieved on those projects which move into the successor programme.

Funeral Costs

Fiona Twycross: Rising funeral costs disproportionately impact on the poorest Londoners at a particularly vulnerable time. What can the Mayor do, from City Hall, to assist Londoners struggling to meet the added financial burden of the cost of a funeral?

The Mayor: I fully support the Competition and Markets Authority’s ongoing investigation into the high costs faced by low-income households when a loved one dies. I also welcome the Government’s recent decision to make Funeral Expenses Payments to benefit claimants upfront. However, they must increase funding to local authorities to help cover the cost of emergency welfare services which have been decimated by almost a decade of austerity.
I’m doing all I can to ease financial pressures for low income households and to keep the cost of living down for Londoners. For example, I am building a record number of affordable homes, freezing TfL fares and introduced the hopper fare. I’m also helping to increase Londoners’ financial resilience through my Good Work Standard. It encourages employers to do more to support their employees by paying the London Living Wage, offering payroll loans, or signposting to trusted sources of financial advice.

Ensuring Government Delivers on its Promises to Protect Disabled People

Jennette Arnold: The Government recently announced long overdue benefit reforms to protect disabled people, after the Mayor wrote to them highlighting the damaging impact of welfare changes on deaf & disabled Londoners. How will you ensure that they deliver on this promise?

The Mayor: I wrote to the Government on 17 July with our powerful new evidence of the detrimental impacts of welfare reforms on disabled Londoners.
I welcome the changes the Government has adopted. However, these changes do not go far enough in addressing the underlying flaws in the design and delivery of the welfare benefits system which are damaging the mental, physical and financial wellbeing of disabled claimants.
I will continue to assess the impact of proposed welfare reform changes on disabled Londoners. In particular, I will write to the new Secretary of State to make sure she is aware of her predecessor’s view that the freeze to working-age benefits must end.

External Affairs Budget

Andrew Boff: What is the total external affairs budget for the 2019/20 year?

The Mayor: The external affairs budget covers the following teams:
Please note that within the external affairs budget:

Autism (11)

Andrew Boff: Do you have a breakdown of the autism content within the Certificate of Knowledge in Policing, confirming whether the autism modules are mandatory, how many hours autism training officers receive and how many officers have received autism training since May 2016?

The Mayor: During the Certificate of Knowledge in Policing (CKP) course, the students complete a mandatory National Centre for Applied Learning Technologies (NCALT) training which is approximately one hour in duration, on mental health, covering Autism and the following points:
The Met have only attested CKP recruits since August 2018 (therefore making them officers). In this time, the Met have trained 1,830 officers (including the current intake of 243).
The May 2016 date referenced in the question therefore pre dates CKP students being constables.

Major events and recycling bins

Caroline Russell: What guidance does London & Partners and the GLA provide to sponsors and organisers of major events to ensure that adequate and suitable recycling bins are provided?

The Mayor: My events team requires all contractors to adhere to our Responsible Procurement Policy. This policy requires minimising overall event waste, and in particular, minimising single use plastics. In order to achieve this, event contractors are required to produce a sustainable waste management plan, including provision of recycling facilities, plans for trade waste and post event litter picking.
Depending on the scale and nature of a particular event, it may be that waste is separated and recycled off site.
When supporting - but not directly organising - an event, we provide guidance and encourage best practice through the sharing of our Responsible Procurement Policy.

Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform

Andrew Boff: What was the total cost to the GLA of the "Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform in London" report? Please provide an itemised breakdown of the costs.

The Mayor: The analysis contained in the ‘Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform in London’ report was commissioned by the GLA from Landman Economics.
The total cost of procuring this analysis was £20,000. This cost consists of analyst time and cannot be broken down further for commercial reasons. The report itself was prepared by GLA officers.

Cost of flights and hotels for MPS officers

Andrew Boff: What is the cost of (1) flights, and (2) hotels for MPS officers for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 to date. Please also break down the costs for the flights for each year by first class, business and economy.

The Mayor: I would refer you to Mayor's Question2018/3024which already provides this information.

IA 13744 Documentation

Caroline Pidgeon: Further to your response to MQT 2019/12003, please provide minutes of the 18 June 2014 closed meeting between First Group TOL and TfL, all IA 13744 drafts and any communication between TfL and First Group TOL on IA 13744 produced between 6 June 2014 and 4 July 2014.

The Mayor: I have asked Transport for London to provide you with this information.
Your question refers to a “closed” meeting on 18 June. The meeting was not “closed” but a “closing” meeting. The purpose of closing meetings is to go through findings with the auditee to check for factual accuracy and identify any available evidence that was not provided during the site work and, if applicable, to confirm details of actions, names and dates to address the findings.

Autism (12)

Andrew Boff: Please could you provide a breakdown of the autism training Metropolitan Police officers and staff will receive after the Certificate of Knowledge in Policing is phased out, confirming whether the autism modules are mandatory and how many hours autism training officers and staff will receive?

The Mayor: Autism awareness is part of the Certificate of Knowledge in Policing (CKP), which every new officer currently completes.
The content and format of training for future recruit pathways remain under development and will be based on the College of Policing curriculum requirements.

Leasehold Reform Report

Tom Copley: Does the Mayor support the proposals of the recent bi-partisan report by the House of Commons Housing, Communities & Local Government Committee report on leasehold reform and what steps will he take to persuade the Government to implement the committee’s proposals?

The Mayor: I agree with many of the recommendations in the report and will continue to raise relevant points in discussions with Government about this issue, in particular those which would help existing leaseholders and support a move toward commonhold.

Electric vehicle charging points on the footway (2)

Caroline Russell: In answer to my question 2019/4115 you told me that the Transport for London (TfL) Streetscape Guidance has been updated to be more: “explicit around the placement of electric vehicle charge points, recommending that charge points are placed on small sections of footway extended into the carriageway wherever practicable.” However, the ‘pedestrian clear zone’ requirement in the guidance is not defined, nor does it set out a clear minimum width requirement. Does TfL provide guidance on the minimum clear width of pedestrian clear zones, and does this take account of disabled mobility requirements?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) provides guidance on minimum clear widths for pedestrians in the TfL Streetscape Guidance, Section 11 - Footway amenities, where it is referenced as the ‘footway clear zone’.
The ‘pedestrian clear zone’ requirement for electric vehicle charge points should have been ‘footway clear zone’ to be clear and consistent. I have requested that this is changed in the next iteration of the document.

Green New Deal and solar power

Caroline Russell: The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy document, Quarter 1 Feed in Tariffs: Sub-national statistics for 2019, shows that fewer than one per cent of London households have installed solar photovoltaics (PV). Do you support the call in the report in July from Common Wealth, Roadmap to a Green New Deal: Infrastructure, for a solar panel on every usable roof, as part of a nationwide upgrade of housing stock?

The Mayor: I agree with the Common Wealth report that there urgently needs to be a national upgrade of existing housing stock and a roll out of solar on suitable rooftops.
I am helping to install solar on existing buildings through my Solar Together programmes and my Community Energy Fund, but the scrapping of the feed-in tariff and the failure of the green deal has significantly undermined the business case for installing domestic solar and improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings. Government funding is urgently required to address this.
I am also ensuring we maximise solar on new developments. Whilst the national Government scrapped its zero carbon homes standard in 2015, I retained a zero carbon homes standard in London. This standard is driving housebuilders to develop energy efficient homes that maximise the use of waste heat and renewable energy. 77 per cent of developments getting planning permission in 2018 included solar PV. These policies need to be rolled out nationally; Government must make good on its promise in the Spring 2019 statement to introduce a Future Homes standard.

Oak processionary moth (3)

Fiona Twycross: What are the projected costs in relation to the oak processionary moth in London? What, if any, element of this cost falls on the GLA?

The Mayor: Forestry Commission England currently has a budget of £2 million to support the control and containment of oak processionary moth (OPM) in Greater London and surrounding areas. The budget is allocated to supporting private land-owners with direct control; surveying and monitoring infestations; and, gathering further evidence of the impact and effectiveness of control methods. The treatment of infested trees in public ownership, such as those in public parks and streets, has to be carried out at the owner’s expense.
None of these costs are borne by the GLA. The London Legacy Development Corporation and Transport for London will incur costs, if they need to remove caterpillar nests from trees on land they own and manage. These costs would be covered by their tree maintenance budgets.

Traffic Lights

Tony Devenish: A constituent has written to me suggesting that some London traffic lights could be turned to flashing amber at times when the volume of traffic would not require traffic lights. Will you commit to doing so or, at least, instigating a pilot scheme?

The Mayor: This suggestion would prioritise motor vehicles over people walking and cycling, exactly the opposite of what my Transport Strategy sets out to achieve. Instead, Transport for London (TfL) is currently developing a new traffic light technique called ‘Green Man Authority’ which prioritises pedestrians at traffic lights when vehicle flows are low.
‘Green man authority’ is a radical technique where the traffic signals show a green signal for pedestrians continuously, until vehicular traffic is detected, at which time the pedestrians are stopped on a red signal, and vehicles are given a green light to proceed.
The technique is being tested at ten locations this year and these sites will determine suitability criteria for future locations.

Dial-a-Ride

Caroline Pidgeon: Please provide for each borough, broken down by month, how many trips were made, refusals, cancellation and service cancellations there were for all periods since January 2018.

The Mayor: The attached document shows Dial-a-Ride trip numbers, refusals, customer cancellations and service cancellations by borough.

Delays in digital information from forensic laboratories relating to rape investigations

Caroline Pidgeon: Please publish the average length of delay faced by each Borough within each BCU in London for receiving returned digital information from forensic laboratories relating to investigations into rape cases.

The Mayor: Forensic Services are unable to provide the data requested broken down by BCU/offence without a manual search.
The MPS will examine 60 per centof these exhibits within 3 months, 39 per centof these exhibits will take between 3-12 months and, 1 per centwill take over 12 months.
Additional officers have been trained to download phones themselves at operational sites to progress investigations. In addition to the number of exhibits quoted above, there will also be a number of phone exhibits being held by officers that have not yet been subject to a self-service kiosk examination.
Factors impacting on turnaround time include the quantity of digital content that needs to be researched and reviewed. The review of data includes access to finite specialist resources that are able to recover data or bypass security. Higher quantities of data result in numerous digital exhibits.

Zero-carbon homes

Leonie Cooper: I want to congratulate you on the recent House of Commons Science & Technology Committee report, which praised London’s work delivering zero-carbon homes. How are you lobbying Government to take up this agenda, in particular re-instating the zero-carbon homes standard?

The Mayor: I am pleased that the Science & Technology Select Committee has recognised the importance of London’s net zero carbon homes policy which was introduced in London in October 2016, and which will be extended to cover all major development when the final version of my new London Plan is published next year. This puts London way ahead of national government on the carbon performance of new buildings, after government shied away from introducing the zero carbon homes policy nearly three years ago.
I have consistently called on government to reintroduce the zero carbon homes standard nationally in consultation responses and meetings, and my Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy has recently written to the new energy minister setting out the benefits London has seen from the zero carbon homes policy, including carbon reductions of 40 per cent more than Building Regulations in 2017. It’s time for government to match my ambition in responding to the climate emergency and re-introduce the zero carbon homes policy nationally.

Energy system resilience (1)

Leonie Cooper: Given the recent power blackouts experienced by Londoners due to National Grid outages, said to be the worst for 16 years, what progress have you made delivering decentralised, zero-carbon energy to London? How else are you working to ensure London has a resilient energy system?

The Mayor: The recent power blackouts demonstrate the importance of delivering a smart, integrated energy system that is resilient, flexible and ready for future changes in supply and demand. I am running pilot programmes like FlexLondon, Home Response, E-Flex and my Decentralised Energy Enabling Project to show how we can store, use and integrate energy to help alleviate pressure on the grid in real time and, making sure London is resilient in the longer term as we see more electrification of heat and transport and the amount of locally generated renewable energy increases.
During the August outages, smart flexible solutions such as battery storage played a key role in helping the system recover from the incident. Although the system (National Grid) and distribution network operators are responsible for the resilience of the grid, I am demonstrating these decentralised solutions to show them how they can manage the system more effectively.

Settled status (2)

Leonie Cooper: Can you break down the number of Londoners that have been granted ‘pre-settled and settled status’ by age?

The Mayor: The Government’s statistics on the EU Settlement Scheme do not include an age breakdown at a regional level. We have called for more detailed data to be made available to inform local outreach and to ensure that all EEA+ Londoners and their families can access the scheme.
As of 30 June 2019, 340,870 applications have been made to the EU Settlement Scheme in London.
As of 30 June 2019 across the UK, the following decisions have been made by age group:

ECO funding

Leonie Cooper: What progress have you made lobbying the Government to devolve London’s fair share of ECO funding?

The Mayor: Despite having 13 per cent of Great Britain’s population London only receives 6.8 per cent of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), meaning we lose out on almost £40m per year. I have made the case repeatedly to Government, and to the BEIS and Treasury Select Committee, for London to have ECO funding devolved to me at least on the same basis as that available to Scottish Ministers.
Most recently my Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy wrote to the new Energy Minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, on this subject and others. Although the Government continues to refuse to devolve powers and give Londoners, particularly the fuel poor, a fair share, in December 2018, the GLA was given the power to deem certain households on low incomes or with long term illnesses or disabilities eligible for ECO funding, and this power has been used successfully to access ECO funds.

Good Work Standard (5)

Leonie Cooper: How many companies do you anticipate will have signed up to the Good Work Standard by the end of the year?

The Mayor: I want as many employers as possible to sign up to the Good Work Standard as I believe this is the benchmark for employment standards that all employers should aim to achieve.
The success of the Good Work Standard will depend on not just how many employers sign up to the initiative and gain accreditation, but also the number of workers and employees within those organisations who will see the benefits of those improved working practices.
We will also know the Good Work Standard is a success by monitoring how many employers use the Good Work Standard tools to improve their employment practices and by ensuring we are engaging a range of employers from different sectors and of different sizes.

Fuel poor homes

Leonie Cooper: How many fuel poor homes in EPC bands F&G are projected to be moved to E and above by next year, as set out in your Fuel Poverty Action Plan?

The Mayor: Moving as many F and G -rated homes as practicable to E by 2020 is a national government milestone and I have committed to monitoring progress towards this in London delivered by various partners. The government has not projected these figures beyond 2019 and they are not available at regional level. However, it is clear from data in the recent government consultation on a revised Fuel Poverty Strategy for England that progress on moving homes to Band E has stalled in recent years due to cuts to the Energy Company Obligation, so I will be making further representations on this. In the meantime, my Warmer Homes grant – the first Londonwide private rented sector programme of its kind - will be available to all low income private sector homes below EPC band C.

St George's Hospital, Hornchurch

Onkar Sahota: Does the proposed plan at the old St George's Hospital site meet your six tests for NHS property developments?

The Mayor: My officers are currently reviewing available information on the proposed developments at the former St George’s Hospital site in the light of the recent funding announcement, in order to explore the application of the six tests.

Good Work Standard (2)

Leonie Cooper: How many small, medium and large employers are signed up to the Good Work Standard?

The Mayor: Of the 79 employers who have either been accredited or begun the process leading to accreditation so far, 18 are small employers, 18 are medium sized and 43 are large. I want as many employers as possible to sign up to the Good Work Standard as I believe this is the benchmark for employment standards that all employers should aim to achieve. I encourage employers from different sectors and of different sizes to sign up.

Good Work Standard (1)

Leonie Cooper: In total, how many employers have signed up to the Good Work Standard?

The Mayor: 79 employers have either been accredited or begun the process of accreditation to date. I want as many employers as possible to sign up to the Good Work Standard as I believe this is the benchmark for employment standards that all employers should aim to achieve.

Good Work Standard (4)

Leonie Cooper: How many companies are currently being assessed against the Good Work Standard?

The Mayor: Currently, 42 assessments are in progress. This includes organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors.

Good Work Standard (3)

Leonie Cooper: What is your strategy for encouraging businesses to sign up to the Good Work Standard? Are you targeting particular sectors?

The Mayor: I am encouraging employers from all business sectors and of all sizes to sign up.
My team are promoting the Good Work Standard through a range of channels including events, direct correspondence, social media and marketing.
I have led by example and ensured that all of the GLA’s functional bodies are signed up. I am keen to use my purchasing power, some £11 billion on procurement, to support good work and use the procurement process to stipulate the minimum terms of employment provided by suppliers such as the London Living Wage and my Good Work Standard.
I encourage other employers to do the same and be influential members in their local economy promoting good employment practices. It isn’t just the right and moral thing to do, it makes good business sense too.As many employers already know, the benefits are clear – supporting fair pay and working practices increases productivity and reduces staff turnover.

Town Centre Retail Units (3)

Navin Shah: There are 239 Town Centres listed in the London Plan. Please provide details of the number of long terms vacant retail units within each town centre for each of the last 5 years.

The Mayor: The London Town Centre Health Check Analysis Report provides the number of vacant retail units for the town centres in the London Plan but does not differentiate between long and short term vacancy of retail units, as the health check is based on ‘snap shot’ surveys of town centres. Identifying premises with long term vacancy could be carried out at a local level by London boroughs, but would require significant resources to undertake at a London-wide level.

Town Centre Retail Units (4)

Navin Shah: Please provide details of what sort of retail and other uses we have in a typical town centre in London?

The Mayor: The London Town Centre Health Check Analysis Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the range and quantity of uses in London’s town centres, which can be found here:
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2017_london_town_centre_health_check_analysis_report_-_final.pdf
Each town centre is unique but, in general, retail uses make up between 55 and 75 per cent of the commercial floorspace in town centres. Larger town centres tend to have a greater proportion of comparison retail, with smaller centres having more convenience retail. The remainder is usually a mix of restaurants and pubs, professional services (e.g. estate agents and accountants), cultural and leisure facilities (e.g. theatres and cinemas), and public and transport services. Some town centres also have a large quantity of offices, though this varies significantly. Town centres also include residential uses, and some have industrial workspaces.

The Metropolitan Police’s Twitter Feed

Peter Whittle: On 20 July 2019, the Metropolitan Police Twitter feed was hacked and began posting a series of bizarre tweets. Could you please explain how the Metropolitan Police managed to lose control of its own Twitter feed?

The Mayor: The MPS Twitter account was not hacked – a site used to post news articles for the media to access which has a direct feed to Twitter was compromised; this was rectified within 1 -2 hours and remedial action taken. My Deputy Mayor has raised this with the MPS Chief Digital and Technology Officer and sought reassurance that this issue has been resolved.

Town Centre Retail Units (2)

Navin Shah: There are 239 Town Centres listed in the London Plan. Please provide details of the number of vacant retail units within each town centre for each of the last 5 years.

The Mayor: The London Town Centre Health Check Analysis Report provides an analysis of the town centres in the London Plan, and is accompanied by a technical appendix which provides data for each town centre including the number of vacant retail units. Because of resource implications, this data is collated generally every 5 years and is not monitored annually at a pan-London level. A table is provided, setting out the most relevant data from the Town Centre Health Check.
Town Centre Health Check Analysis Report: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2017_london_town_centre_health_check_analysis_report_-_final.pdf
Town Centre Health Check Technical Analysis:
https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-town-centre-health-check-analysis-report

Child Exploitation (3)

Caroline Pidgeon: Do you have any concerns that without the appropriate training and a focus on safeguarding children and young people exploited through the county lines model, an increase in stop and search and the forthcoming pilot of knife crime prevention orders could serve to further criminalise children and young people who are already the victims of exploitation?

The Mayor: Officers are trained on how to refer concerns of exploitation – identified via a whole range of policing interactions - to ensure appropriate safeguarding action is taken. This could include a referral to the National Referral Mechanism which ensures that additional support is in place for young people who are trafficked or exploited in modern slavery - which could include county lines drug dealing.
MOPAC also funds Rescue & Response, a pan London county lines service that supports young people exploited by county lines. The MPS have referred 103 young people into Rescue and Response over the last 12 months.
I support the use of both intelligence-led stop and search and Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs) when used fairly and proportionately. Stop and search is a vital tool for the police and must be carried out with respect and based on real intelligence. The Met called for the introduction of Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs) as an additional tool to help them further protect young Londoners. London is one of the pilot sites for use of KCPOs and I will oversee and scrutinise the outcomes and learning from this pilot to ensure its proportionate use.

Mind The Gap

Tony Devenish: The behavioural economist and “nudge” expert Richard Thaler was interviewed in The FT on 3rd August and said "All these announcements to mind the gap. Can that conceivably be useful? I wonder if TfL has run an experiment. Here's my hypothesis. 99.9% of people on the tube have blocked this out. Whatever the percentage of tourists is, half of them have no idea what 'mind the gap' means. The people who might conceivably benefit from the warning probably don't understand it. So why not experiment with some different approaches to see if that reduces accidents?" Will you ensure that such an experiment happens?

The Mayor: Transport for London’s (TfL’s) safety analysis shows that customers on the Tube network are most likely to have a serious accident as they are moving between the train and the platform. As a result, TfL has carried out a lot of work to ensure a robust collection of measures and campaigns are in place to keep customers safe.
TfL’s comprehensive approach to enhancing safety includes the Mind the Gap campaign. The live announcements to Mind the Gap are supported with posters, tactile paving, floor lines and messaging on platforms, and enhanced lighting to make the gaps more noticeable. TfL’s research shows that customers, including visitors in London who don’t regularly use the Tube, listen, understand and respond to these measures, including the Mind the Gap announcements.
As customer behaviour changes, TfL continues to look for engaging and innovative ways of raising customer awareness of how to stay safe whilst travelling. TfL runs monthly platform/train incident days to reassess its safety measures and ensure they are concentrated appropriately. TfL also regularly alternates the style, tone and voice of its announcements to keep them fresh and to improve how they are received by passengers.

The Arrest of Pastor Oluwole Ilesanmi (2)

David Kurten: To ask the Mayor whether any police officer has been disciplined or received ‘words of advice’ in consequence of the arrest of Christian street preacher Oluwole Ilesanmi outside Southgate Underground Station on 23 February 2019?

The Mayor: Following the arrest of Mr Oluwole Ilesanmi, two officers were investigated by the local Professional Standards Unit to determine if they had breached the code of conduct. The investigation found that the arrest was lawful. Officer A admitted to having made a mistake in aspects of the administration of the arrest and was issued Management Action. Officer B admitted to misconduct in having made inappropriate comments to Mr Ilesanmi. Following a misconduct meeting and subsequent mitigation, no further action was taken.

Tube Noise Complaints (1)

Tony Devenish: How many complaints have TfL received from homeowners and tenants impacted by Tube noise since May 2008? Please give a breakdown by year, Tube Line and borough.

The Mayor: Addressing Tube noise is a priority for Transport for London (TfL)
In November 2015, prior to the launch of Night Tube in 2016, TfL put in place a new system for recording Tube noise complaints, to ensure complaints were measured accurately.
Previous records of Tube noise complaints included some instances of duplication and complaints that were not related to the day-to-day running of the Tube network. To ensure accuracy and consistency, figures have been provided from November 2015 onwards.
Please find attached a table which shows all complaints since November 2015.

NHS Affordable Homes (1)

Navin Shah: The London Health Board published their London health and care estates strategy on 10 July 2019. Why is there no mention of your 50% affordable housing target on public land in it?

The Mayor: My target to deliver 50 per centaffordable housing on former NHS land is set out in the draft London Plan.

Brexit

Peter Whittle: I note your tweet of 28 July 2019, in which you stated: ‘The only sensible course of action is for the new Prime Minister to withdraw Article 50 and allow a public vote on Brexit - with remain on the ballot paper.’1 However, on 21 July 2016, on the ‘Speak to Sadiq’ show on LBC, you stated: ‘There are rules in a game, there are rules in an election and unfortunately my side lost. The British public has voted to leave the European Union. You also said: ‘I've got grievances about how the campaign was conducted but the reality is the public had a say, and they voted to leave.’2 Which of those opinions should we now believe?
1https://twitter.com/MayorofLondon/status/1155443314440712192
2https://www.lbc.co.uk/politics/parties/labour/sadiq-khan/sadiq-khan-u-turn-respecting-referendum-result/

The Mayor: In 2016, I gave the Government the benefit of the doubt, calling on them to reach the best possible Brexit deal with the EU.My proposal – to retain membership of the customs union and single market - would have protected UK jobs and prosperity to a greater extent than any other option available, and averted the return of a border in Northern Ireland.
The Government failed to secure a good deal, and the bad deal they succeeded in negotiating was rejected three times by parliament. Their protracted mishandling of the process has resulted in the realistic prospect of leaving with ‘no deal’– something the British public did not vote for and which would cause enormous economic damage to the UK.
That is why Article 50 should be withdrawn, andthe threat of a no-deal Brexit stopped. Ultimately there must beapublic vote, with remain on the ballot paper, to give the public the final say.

Freedom of the Press (3)

Peter Whittle: Was Mr Basu’s statement cleared by the Metropolitan Police’s own in-house counsel?

The Mayor: I understand that the MPS in house legal advice was sought prior to the release of the statement.

London Resilience

Tony Devenish: In light of the power outage on the 9th August, what are you doing to increase London’s resilience?

The Mayor: The resilience of the national electricity network is the responsibility of National Grid and, ultimately, central Government. Ofgem is investigating the August outage and could take enforcement action against National Grid if necessary.
In London, we have well-rehearsed emergency response plans in place to deal with a wide range of unexpected events. In this case, power was restored relatively quickly, although the disruption was still considerable and of an extended duration.
My officers work closely with energy suppliers to improve and maintain the resilience of their networks to help keep London running smoothly, including through the London Resilience Partnership, my Infrastructure High Level Group and my Infrastructure Coordination Team.
With increasing local renewable energy generation and electrification of heat and transport networks, we are also running smart energy programmes like FlexLondon, Home Response and E-Flex to pilot how we can store and use energy to reduce pressure on the grid.

Mess Dress

Peter Whittle: I note reports in the press that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dick has commissioned a tailored royal blue mess jacket and cummerbund from the tailors Gieves & Hawkes of No. 1 Savile Row, at a cost of some £5,000, which she wore at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in June 2019.1 Who paid for this bespoke ceremonial uniform?
1https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7245025/Cressida-Dick-wore-5-000-Savile-Row-uniform-State-dinner-paid-taxpayers.html

The Mayor: Like all serving Metropolitan Police officers, the uniform for the Commissioner is supplied from existing uniform stock, funded through the uniform services budget and made at the time of appointment to the role of Commissioner. It includes uniform needed to meet the required dress code for operational, ceremonial and official duties the Commissioner will undertake throughout her Commissionership. For example, the State Opening of Parliament, Trooping the Colour and Remembrance Sunday, state dinners and ceremonies.
Such items of additional uniform were also made for previous Commissioners and are necessary items for the role. Where possible, elements of existing uniforms and/or accessories are reused and recycled. Where this is not possible and additional items are purchased – such as in the case of the first female Commissioner - they are intended to last the duration of the Commissioner’s time of office.

Housing restarts

Andrew Boff: How many of the GLA-funded affordable homes started in the financial year 2018/19 were restarts from a previous year?

The Mayor: A total of 499 starts on site were re-started in 2018-19 from schemes reported in 2016-17. The GLA published statistics were amended in May 2019 to account for these adjustments.

Child Exploitation (2)

Caroline Pidgeon: Can you please set out what actions you have taken to ensure that across the Metropolitan Police Service, officers know how to spot the signs of child criminal exploitation and identify young people who have been groomed and trafficked to sell drugs as victims?

The Mayor: The MPS conducted a London-wide review of how boroughs react to child criminal exploitation (CCE) and each borough was able to respond with areas of good practice and where development was required.As a result of this work, six boroughs adopted the Vulnerability Assessment Tracker (VAT), which has been implemented by National County Lines Coordination Centre and is used to assess the vulnerability of young people affected by gangs. The VAT manager on borough accepts the referral from police and partners, then identifies the appropriate response to the vulnerability. This work has been nationally recognised as the coordinated approach to identifying victims of Child Criminal Exploitation.
As well as the implementation of the VAT, the MPS has led on an extensive educational training package to gangs units, frontline policing partners, local authorities, schools, faith groups and local charities to raise awareness of CCE. These campaigns have formed part of the wider work of “Spot it to Stop it,” and have focused on addressing key issues such as truancy and those missing and in local authority care.

Overcrowding

Andrew Boff: Please provide data which illustrates the degree of housing overcrowding in each of the financial years 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19, broken down by social and private rented sector.

The Mayor: Estimates of the proportion of households in London who are overcrowded are taken from the English Housing Survey, and use the ‘bedroom standard’ measure of overcrowding.
The attached table shows:
These estimates are for the years 2013/14 to 2017/18. English Housing Survey data for 2018/19 is not yet available.
Single-year data
Social rent
Private rent
All tenures
2013/14
12.1%
11.7%
8.1%
2014/15
12.4%
9.7%
6.4%
2015/16
15.6%
11.7%
7.9%
2016/17
13.6%
9.6%
7.5%
2017/18
15.1%
14.4%
8.7%
Three-year averages
Social rent
Private rent
All tenures
2011/12 - 13/14
12.1%
11.8%
7.9%
2012/13 - 14/15
12.9%
11.0%
7.6%
2013/14 - 15/16
13.4%
11.0%
7.5%
2014/15 - 16/17
13.8%
10.3%
7.3%
2015/16 - 17/18
14.7%
11.9%
8.0%

Proposed Changes to Bus Route 339 Consultation (2)

Jennette Arnold: Are you satisfied that 92 respondents adequately reflects the number of users on the 339 bus route? Why?

The Mayor: When planning a consultation, Transport for London (TfL) will determine a strategy that ensures those affected by a proposed change are aware of the proposals and have a timely opportunity to respond. Bus consultations are routinely promoted through pre-consultation engagement, emails to local stakeholders, bus stop poster campaigns and letter drops to the local community.
This consultation aimed to elicit feedback from all those affected by changes to route 339. It was not focused on just determining feedback from the users of the route.
For this consultation TfL issued 1,044 letters to local residents and businesses. Notices were displayed at bus stops, and emails were sent to local stakeholders. A full explanation of TfL’s approach to delivering this consultation can be found at https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/339-monier-road/user_uploads/route-339-monier-road-consultation-report.pdf
TfL considers that this consultation was adequately promoted. The number of respondents represents those people who had an interest in expressing their views on these proposals.

Future stages of the draft London Plan

Sian Berry: Could you provide a timetable for the draft London Plan, setting out the remaining stages, including dates until it is adopted next year?

The Mayor: I am currently awaiting the report from the Panel of Inspectors following the Examination in Public hearing sessions carried out earlier in the year. Once this is received, I must publish the Panel report within eight weeks. I intend to publish this report and send the ‘Intend to Publish’ version of the Plan to the Secretary of State at the same time.
The Secretary of State has six weeks to consider the Intend to Publish version of the Plan.The Intend to Publish version of the Plan will also be laid before the Assembly.The timing is dependent on when I receive the Panel’s report.

Carl Beech

Andrew Boff: What changes will take place in the Met as a result of its failures during the investigation of the Carl Beech accusations?

The Mayor: Following the conclusion of the Op Midland investigation, the then Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe commissioned a thorough review by Sir Richard Henriques. Key points from Sir Richard’s highly critical review were published in November 2016.
Sir Bernard also apologised in person to those most affected by the case.
The review has allowed the Met to learn, so that they could improve their handling of similar allegations in the future. Many of Sir Richard’s recommendations have been embedded in police training and practice. The Met will consider carefully any learning recommendations from the IOPC investigation report which is due to be published in September. There will also be an internal debrief in October with Northumbria police force to identify any additional lessons.
Nationally, the police service set up Operation Hydrant to act as an operational centre for advice and expertise when dealing with historical allegations of this nature.

Tube Noise Complaints Map

Jennette Arnold: In response to question 2017/2458 TfL provided AM Dismore a map of complaints for tube noise across the network. Please provide an updated map showing the information on tube noise complaints since 2012.

The Mayor: Addressing Tube noise is a priority for Transport for London (TfL).
In November 2015, prior to the launch of Night Tube in 2016, TfL put in place a new system for recording Tube noise complaints, to ensure complaints were measured accurately.
Previous records of Tube noise complaints included some instances of duplication and complaints that were not related to the day-to-day running of the Tube network. To ensure accuracy and consistency, figures have been provided from November 2015 onwards.
Please find attached a table which shows all complaints received since November 2015. Given the nature of the data, this is a clearer means of presentation than a map. TfL officers have confirmed they would be pleased to meet with you and discuss any of this data in further detail.

AI and Technological Change (4)

Jennette Arnold: Transport for London is constantly collecting data from its users, are you satisfied that the system in use to protect this data is safe and secure, and meets the standards set by the Information Commissioner’s Office?

The Mayor: Yes, Transport for London (TfL) is trusted with significant volumes of personal information about its customers, users, staff and others, which it needs in order to provide the services it is responsible for. TfL has dedicated resources and robust policies, processes and security arrangements in place to ensure all of this information is managed in compliance with data protection legislation and relevant guidance and Codes of Practice from the Information Commissioner.

Tube Noise on the Victoria Line

Jennette Arnold: Please provide numbers of complaints from those affected by tube noise from the Victoria Line for the years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The Mayor: Addressing Tube noise is a priority for Transport for London (TfL).
In November 2015, prior to the launch of Night Tube in 2016, TfL put in place a new system for recording Tube noise complaints, to ensure complaints were measured accurately.
Previous records of Tube noise complaints included some instances of duplication and complaints that were not related to the day-to-day running of the Tube network. To ensure accuracy and consistency, figures have been provided from November 2015 onwards.
TfL has received the following number of complaints from residents nearby the Victoria line regarding Tube noise:
2015 (from November onwards): 23
2016: 85
2017: 78
2018: 68
2019: 55

Blackwall tunnel tolling trial

Caroline Pidgeon: Campaigners have suggested that a trial should take place on tolling Blackwall Tunnel, ahead of any decision to go ahead with your planned Silvertown Tunnel. Is this something you will consider to assess the impact of such a policy on traffic volumes in the wider area before you sign any contract for Silvertown?

The Mayor: As I have previously explained in my responses to Mayor's Question 2019/12014 and 2019/11963, the Silvertown Tunnel, along with associated user charging and a step change in cross river bus services, has already been determined as the most appropriate solution to the significant issues of congestion and unreliability at the Blackwall Tunnel, and the consequential impacts this has on the travel, the economy and the environment across a wide area of south and east London. We cannot afford to wait any longer to see it implemented.
Transport for London (TfL) has already assessed the option you suggest as part of developing the Silvertown Tunnel scheme. As TfL presented in its ‘Case for the Scheme’ to the Planning Inspectorate, ‘charge-only’ options would only partly address congestion problems, would not materially impact on the number of traffic incidents which force the Blackwall Tunnel to be closed regularly, and would not provide a viable alternative to improve river-crossing resilience. Charge-only options would also not allow implementation of a transformative new cross-river bus network in east London.

205 Bus and Mobility Concerns

Jennette Arnold: The central London Bus Consultation notes that the most common concerns regarding changes to the 205/N205 routes were “that the restructure of routes will make it harder for passengers with mobility issues to access Marylebone station.” Please detail the work TfL will be undertaking to mitigate the impact of the changes to the route to support those with mobility issues.

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) carried out an Equality Impact Assessment as part of the central London bus consultation. TfL has maintained travel options for those using the station, recognising that Marylebone is a hub for mainline train, Tube and bus services. For those customers who wish to board the re-routed 205 from Marylebone station, the eastbound stop is located 130 metres from the station entrance on Marylebone Road. The westbound stop is located within 270 metres of the station entrance, with a signalised road crossing on Marylebone Road for those crossing the road. Both stops have a shelter, seating, lighting and information.
Alternatively, route 453 can be boarded from nearby Great Central Street. Route 453 has a direct interchange with routes 205 and N205 at Baker Street station, and this interchange can be made for free through the Hopper Fare or with a Freedom Pass. The journey can also be made in a similar manner in the opposite direction. The route to the bus stop from Marylebone Station is level, has no kerbs, and benefits from zebra crossing, meaning it is easier to reach for those who may not be able to comfortably reach the route 205 and N205 stop on Marylebone Road.
The journey time and reliability improvements will help make bus travel more attractive and thereby contribute at least in a small way to my Transport Strategy goals. No further mitigations are planned, but TfL will continue to monitor the changes.

Smart, fair road pricing scheme investigation

Caroline Russell: What work has Transport for London (TfL) undertaken to investigate the future design and implementation of possible smart, fair, London-wide road-pricing schemes?

The Mayor: My Transport Strategy sets out our approach to paying forroaduse. Transport for London (TfL) is keeping the Congestion Charge and otherroadusercharges under review, including investigating whether there are ways to better reflect distance driven, emissions, congestion,roaddanger and other factors in an integrated way.
Now that we have successfully delivered the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in central London, however, our first priority forroad usercharginghas to be expanding the ULEZ to inner London – an area 18 times bigger that the central zone – in 2021. This will result in enormous benefits for London but will also be a considerable practical challenge.
New technologies could offer the potential for even more sophisticated models of paying forroaduse but any future proposals would need to be preceded by detailed feasibility work and be subject to consultation with stakeholders and the public.

Civic Pride Campaign

Joanne McCartney: A constituent has asked me to ask: what steps are you taking to increase civic pride across London? Haringey Council has a Civic Pride Campaign with the first phase focusing on fly-tipping and litter. Can this be replicated across London?

The Mayor: I have always said that London is the greatest city in the world. All Londoners should be proud to live in one of the most exciting, entrepreneurial, innovative and outward-looking cities – a city bursting with creativity and opportunity. My Social Integration Strategy has put civic engagement and participation front and centre, and I am working to increase civic pride across London – for example by backing London to be the world’s first National Park City, creating the London Borough of Culture, and welcoming summer visitors with my Team London Ambassador volunteers. My Crowdfund London programme allows Londoners to rally community support around a project or place and be awarded up to £50,000 in match funding from City Hall.
Boroughs also have an essential part to play, as we can see from the great work in Haringey, and I will be very happy to promote good practice and ideas across the city.

Good Work Standard

Susan Hall: What is the total amount of money spent by the GLA on the Good Work Standard?

The Mayor: MD2296 established a budget £0.55m in July 2018 for the Mayor’s Economic Fairness programme, to fund staff resources needed in the Regeneration and Economic Development team for the development and ongoing running of the Good Work Standard amongst other priorities.
Since July 2018 the GLA has spent £0.1m to support the development of the Good Work Standard.

Silkstream flooding [1]

Andrew Dismore: Last year you awarded £324,000 for the Silkstream Valley Parks regeneration project. Please provide an update on this work, specifically how has it been used to tackle ongoing flooding from the Silk Stream, which is poorly maintained and frequently blocked by flytipping. Has the frequency of flooding incidents decreased?

The Mayor: The Environment Agency is ultimately responsible for managing on main rivers such as the Silk Stream. However, I have supported the Silkstream Valley Parks regeneration project which is ongoing and due to be completed by Spring 2020. Improvements to the Silk Stream will provide 3,500m3 of new flood storage including a large wetland area, stream-side beaches and a skate park that is designed to collect water to avoid flooding. Additional measures, such as the removal of concrete weirs have also been implemented. These are all proven methods for reducing flood events.
To determine whether the project decreases the frequency of flooding, the Environment Agency will undertake a more detailed assessment to determine the wider impact of these measures on flooding after the project has been completed.
Other improvements to the parks include improving access to the river, planting aquatic plants and 300 trees. These should help reduce the incidences of fly-tipping, which the council and the Environment Agency are ultimately responsible for tackling, as well as other anti-social behaviour, by encouraging more use of the parks by the local community.

Metropolitan line‏

Susan Hall: Why was the decision taken to implement a new signalling system on the Metropolitan line in the week of 2 September - when more people are going back to work and school, and the trains would be busier than they'd been for weeks?‏

The Mayor: On 1 September a further section of new signalling was introduced between Finchley Road and Euston Square, and Latimer Road and Euston Square, as part of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) overhaul of the signalling system on the oldest part of the network, the Circle, Hammersmith & City, District and Metropolitan lines.. Introducing the new signalling is a significant step that means customers are coming closer to the important benefits that will be delivered by TfL, ultimately improving journey times and increasing the frequency of trains.
Whilst general demand on the Tube is still lower than average in the first week of September TfL has of course apologised for the disruption that Metropolitan line customers have experienced. The new signalling system has been operating well, but as part of TfL’s commitment to safety, Metropolitan line train operators must be accompanied through the upgraded section by an instructor while it beds in. This has had some impact on the service, which staff are working hard to minimise.
The signalling upgrade of the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines is a complex programme and will deliver significant benefits to customers once it is complete. In the meantime, TfL has to carefully balance the amount of time to close the network for testing and train operator training with the new signalling system, whilst keeping London moving. The Metropolitan line was closed a number of times, including twice on weekends during the August holiday period, in order to test the new system and familiarise as many train operators as possible ahead of this latest section of the network going live for passenger service.

A Royal Commission into Policing

Peter Whittle: On 5 July 2019, five ex-Met Police chiefs, who ran London's police force from 1993 to 2017, warned in a letter to The Times that cuts had "contributed to the feeling of lawlessness" generated by knife crime and county lines drugs. They called for a Royal Commission on Policing and the possible ending of the ‘fragmented’ system of 45 area forces.1 Does this call for a Royal Commission into policing have your support?
1https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48878470

The Mayor: I have been clear that London’s police are under-resourced and over-stretched, and I welcome the new Prime Minister’s agreement that the Government’s police cuts were a mistake and the announcement of plans to support the recruitment of 20,000 police officers.
I have written to the Home Secretary seeking clarification that the Met will receive the proportion of the 20,000 officers which should be due to them, and that these officers are in addition to the 1,300 officers being funded by City Hall.
While new investment in policing is much needed and very welcome, I am clear that enforcement is just one element of the efforts to cut serious violence. In addition to cuts to the police, Government cuts to preventative services such as youth services, community groups, education and probation have reversed decades of progress in tackling the root causes of violent offending by young people. The reversal in cuts to policing must go hand in hand with a reversal in the cuts to preventative services if we are to achieve a lasting reduction in violence
The Home office has stated that it is working on a smarter system for policing. I await further developments in this area.

Good Work Standard metrics

Onkar Sahota: Does the Good Work Standard record whether a participating employer recognises a trade union for collective bargaining purposes?

The Mayor: Yes it does.
Our workplaces are safer, more productive and better places to be because of our trade unions and the Good Work Standard encourages employers to recognise unions for collective bargaining purposes wherever workers seek to organise.

Electric vehicle infrastructure taskforce delivery plan

Caroline Russell: The London electric vehicle infrastructure delivery plan, published in June 2019, acknowledges problems with electric vehicle charging points on the footway, saying: “Bulky chargers and cabinets, when located on the footway, can have a detrimental impact on pedestrians, particularly for larger scales of deployment. As well as locating charge points in the carriageway where safe to do so, creative, low-cost and low street-impact charger options are beginning to come to market with designs encompassing lamppost chargers, pop-up chargers, hidden sockets in the ground and small charging mounds.” Why was no reference included to the provision of ‘pedestrian clear zones’ or clear minimum width standards that take account of disability mobility requirements on the footway?

The Mayor: In March this year, Transport for London (TfL)’s Streetscape Guidance document (Fourth Edition) was updated. Under Part E Kerbside activity: (10.5) Electrical Vehicle Charge Points, there are specific references to ‘pedestrian clear zones’ and 2000mm minimum footway width.
Additionally, one of the outputs from the Delivery Plan is to publish guidance on charge point installation for both public and private sector.
TfL is working to produce the London Electrical Vehicle Charge Point Guidance to be published in Spring 2020. It will cover details on the design layout of electric charge point facilities particularly regarding the streetscape and will include considerations for disability mobility requirements.

Electric vehicle charging points on the footway (3)

Caroline Russell: The Department of Transport (DfT) Inclusive Mobility best practice guidance recommends a clear width of 2000 mm on footways to allow two wheelchairs to pass one another comfortably. Did Transport for London (TfL) take account of this for the ‘pedestrian clear zone’ requirement in the TfL Streetscape Guidance? If not, why not?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) did take account of the Department for Transport’s Inclusive Mobility best practice guidance for the ‘footway clear zone’ as covered in the TfL Streetscape Guidance in Section 11 Footway amenities, 11.2 Footway zones.
As referred to in Mayor's Question 2019/14209, the ‘pedestrian clear zone’ is the same as the ‘footway clear zone’ but will be renamed to ‘footway clear zone’ in the next iteration of the TfL Streetscape Guidance.

Government target for remediating buildings with ACM cladding (1)

Andrew Dismore: On 18 July, James Brokenshire MP, who was secretary of state at MHCLG at the time, said that all social sector buildings with ACM cladding should be fixed by Christmas 2019. How many buildings will the GLA’s administration of the social sector cladding remediation fund have to cover between 12 September 2019 and December 31 2019, that have not already been allocated funding, in order to meet this target?

The Mayor: Based on the estimated dates of completion from social landlords, this commitment will not be met. It was an unrealistic and irresponsible deadline.

Simultaneous evacuations (1)

Andrew Dismore: How many buildings in London have interim simultaneous evacuation procedures in place at the present time, and in each year since the Grenfell Tower fire? Please break this down by private sector and social sector and by borough.

The Mayor: The number of premises that have temporarily moved to a simultaneous evacuation strategy has changed at regular intervals over the last two years as premises have been remediated and others have been added to the list as issues have arisen. The readily available data held by London Fire Brigade does not capture the dates at which buildings were added or removed from the list, so it is not possible to provide a yearly breakdown for these premises. However, the requested breakdown for the current list of premises is provided below:
Total number of premises that have temporarily changed from stay put to simultaneous evacuation
216
Private
144
Social (Housing Association + Local Authority)
72
Barking and Dagenham total
3
Barking and Dagenham private
2
Barking and Dagenham social
1
Barnet total
2
Barnet private
1
Barnet social
1
Brent total
26
Brent private
15
Brent social
11
Bromley total
1
Bromley social
1
Camden total
4
Camden private
3
Camden social
1
City of London total
1
City of London private
1
Croydon total
5
Croydon private
4
Croydon social
1
Ealing total
4
Ealing private
4
Hammersmith and Fulham total
2
Hammersmith and Fulham social
2
Greenwich total
26
Greenwich private
26
Hackney total
21
Hackney private
3
Hackney social
18
Haringey total
2
Haringey social
2
Harrow total
1
Harrow private
1
Havering total
1
Havering private
1
Hillingdon total
1
Hillingdon private
1
Hounslow total
2
Hounslow private
2
Islington total
5
Islington private
1
Islington social
4
Kensington and Chelsea total
4
Kensington and Chelsea private
2
Kensington and Chelsea social
2
Lambeth total
2
Lambeth social
2
Lewisham total
5
Lewisham private
3
Lewisham social
2
Newham total
21
Newham private
15
Newham social
6
Richmond total
1
Richmond total
1
Southwark total
14
Southwark private
5
Southwark total
9
Tower Hamlets total
32
Tower Hamlets private
29
Tower Hamlets social
3
Waltham Forest total
1
Waltham Forest social
1
Wandsworth total
15
Wandsworth private
13
Wandsworth social
2
Westminster total
14
Westminster private
14

Government target for remediating buildings with ACM cladding (3)

Andrew Dismore: On 18 July, James Brokenshire MP, who was secretary of state at MHCLG at the time, said that all private sector buildings with ACM cladding should be fixed by June 2020. How many buildings will the GLA’s administration of the private sector cladding remediation fund have to cover from 12 September 2019 to June 30 2020, that have not already been allocated funding, in order to meet this target?

The Mayor: The Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund will open for applications later this month. The June 2020 commitment to remediate all buildings was irresponsible and unrealistic – the Government will fail to meet its own deadline.
Supply chain pressures, delays in the Government creating this fund, Brexit, the complexity of the fund process as designed by MHCLG, and the fundamental fact that buildings owners control the pace of remediation, means this deadline is entirely unachievable.

Government target for remediating buildings with ACM cladding (4)

Andrew Dismore: On 18 July, James Brokenshire MP, who was secretary of state at MHCLG at the time, said that all private sector buildings with ACM cladding should be fixed by June 2020. How many dwellings are contained in buildings that the GLA’s administration of the private sector cladding remediation fund have to cover between 12 September 2019 and 30 June 2020, that have not already been allocated funding?

The Mayor: The Government estimates that 80 London buildings will be eligible for funding. The GLA’s role begins when an applicant comes forward. The Government, not the GLA, is responsible for ensuring buildings apply to the fund. The fund will open for applications later this month.

GLA administration of the private sector cladding remediation fund (1)

Andrew Dismore: How many dwellings are contained in the buildings to which the GLA has allocated funding for the remediation of ACM cladding in the private sector?

The Mayor: The Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund will open for applications later this month.

GLA administration of the private sector cladding remediation fund (2)

Andrew Dismore: How many private sector buildings have had funding allocated from the cladding remediation fund administered by the GLA and what is the total value of this allocation?

The Mayor: The Private Sector Cladding Remediation Fund will open for applications later this month.

Funding sprinklers through the Housing Revenue Account

Andrew Dismore: On 18 July, James Brokenshire MP, who was secretary of state at MHCLG at the time, said: “The Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap was abolished on 29th October 2018, giving freedom to local authorities to help finance unforeseen capital repairs programmes, such as retro-fitting sprinklers”. What is your view on councils using the HRA headroom for this purpose?

The Mayor: I have written many times to the Secretary of State calling for the Government to fund the retrofitting of sprinklers or other suitable fire suppression systems as part of a risk-based approach, and to respond to the LFB’s call for sprinklers to be made mandatory in all new residential tower blocks.
Using the Housing Revenue Account headroom to fund the retrofitting of sprinklers would impact councils’ capacity to deliver affordable homes and fund other much needed services. I will therefore continue to lobby Government to make funding available for the retrofitting of sprinklers in existing buildings, especially those at high risk or accommodating vulnerable people.

Support with energy bills during ACM remediation works

Andrew Dismore: In response to question 2019/12230, you stated that the average financial benefit to households participating in the fuel poverty support fund was £169 per year. Will you ensure that residents of buildings undergoing remediation of ACM cladding are aware of this service and able to access its benefits?

The Mayor: My Warmer Homes Advice Service (previously the Fuel Poverty Support Fund) is open to any fuel poor Londoner in any tenure. We are already working with social landlords to offer advice and support to vulnerable households in these buildings. We will also suggest that applicants to the Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund inform residents of the service and where affected leaseholders get in touch with the GLA directly, my team will ensure they are notified of the service.

Incidence of cancer among firefighters

Andrew Dismore: What is the prevalence of cancers among current and former LFB firefighters, and what proportion of those are work related?

The Mayor: London Fire Brigade does not maintain a registry of existing or former employees who have had cancer and so is unable to provide data on the prevalence of cancer among firefighters.
From 2006 to date the Brigade has settled injury claims with the families of 35 former members of staff who died of mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos at work, all of whom commenced employment before 1982.
For cancers to be associated with the firefighter occupation the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) states that there needs to be evidence showing that ‘it is more likely than not’ that the cancer was caused by workplace exposure to a specific substance. In practice, this requires the risk to be shown to have more than doubled, otherwise, a positive connection cannot be associated with the work activities or workplace exposures of the occupational group. Any such cancer would be recommended as a prescribed industrial disease in the UK. No cancers have been formally linked with the firefighter occupation in the UK.

Speed of remediation buildings with ACM cladding (1)

Andrew Dismore: For buildings in the social sector where the GLA has administered the cladding remediation fund, what is the average time between a) a plan being put in place for ACM cladding remediation to remediation works beginning, b) remediation works starting to remediation works completing, and c) from a plan being put in place to remediation works finishing?

The Mayor: For buildings where the GLA is administering the Social Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund, the average estimated time between remediation works beginning (start on site for cladding replacement) and remediation works completing is eight months. This is based on estimated dates of completion because remediation work is ongoing in most cases.
The GLA does hold the other data requested.

LED Street Lighting

Joanne McCartney: What steps are you taking to encourage boroughs to follow Enfield Council’s lead and look to implement LED street lighting? This change helps save money and is better for the environment than conventional street lights.

The Mayor: Switching street lights to LED saves London Boroughs money and carbon. My public sector retrofit programme, RE:FIT, has looked at opportunities to upgrade street lights in London to LED through its work with the London Boroughs. It has found that all London Boroughs already have programmes in place to switch their street lights to LED.
In addition, through my involvement in the EU funded Sharing Cities programme, the Royal Borough of Greenwich has undertaken over 400 LED installations since 2016.
I am also committed to a project delivering upgrades to London’s lamp-posts, as stated in the Smarter Together London Plan, by working with TfL, the Met police and 19 London boroughs to reduce the cost and environmental impact of street lighting.

Town Centre Retail Units (1)

Navin Shah: There are 239 Town Centres listed in the London Plan. Please provide details of the number of retail units within each town centre for each of the last 5 years.

The Mayor: The London Town Centre Health Check Analysis Report provides an analysis of the town centres in the London Plan, and is accompanied by a technical appendix which provides a significant amount of data for each town centre including the number of retail units. Because of resource implications, this data is collated generally every 5 years and is not monitored annually at a pan-London level. A table is provided, setting out the most relevant data from the Town Centre Health Check.
Town Centre Health Check Analysis Report: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2017_london_town_centre_health_check_analysis_report_-_final.pdf
Town Centre Health Check Technical Analysis:
https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-town-centre-health-check-analysis-report

Homes for NHS staff

Navin Shah: The London Health Board has supported the “Homes for NHS staff” pilot to unlock quick-wins where affordable homes can be built. Five sites in London should have received £70,000 each in 2018 to accelerate delivery of affordable homes. However, Mayoral decisions record only receiving £150,000. Can you explain what has happened to the remaining £200,000?

The Mayor: One Public Estate (OPE) awarded £70,000 directly to each of the five sites as part of the wider OPE programme. In addition, OPE awarded the GLA £150,000 to project mange delivery on the five sites, and the production of a Homes for NHS Delivery Toolkit.

NHS Affordable Homes (3)

Navin Shah: What powers do you have to compel the NHS to provide 50% affordable on its land in London?

The Mayor: The target for former NHS land to provide 50 per centaffordable housing is set out in the draft London Plan.

Build to Rent

Navin Shah: Has a) MOPAC and b) the LFB explored the possibility not of disposing land, but retaining the ownership and looking for a partner to Build to Rent homes to create an income stream rather than one off payment?

The Mayor: In respect of property holdings and management the MOPAC focus is on the provision of those assets to meet the operational and support functions necessary to address policing and crime. Disposal of assets provides a triple benefit – the generation and certainty of capital receipts to re-invest in the retained estate, reduced running costs and the avoidance of further investment costs. Subject to planning permission sites disposed of can be used for a variety of uses including rent.
When disposing of sites MOPAC encourages bidders, when bidding on the basis of residential redevelopment, to acknowledge that when making an offer they have had regard to relevant planning policies, including existing local authority policies on minimum affordable housing requirements, the Mayor's Supplementary Planning Guidance on affordable housing and the draft London Plan. Parties will be encouraged to review the GLA funding available for the provision of affordable housing through the Mayor's 'Homes for Londoners: Affordable Homes Programme 2016-2021.’
London Fire Brigade (LFB) is achieving this at West Hampstead cottages through the refurbishment of the cottages for use by LFB staff at discounted rents. The main governing legislation for LFB is the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, later expanded by the Localism Act 2011, which limits LFB to its prime functions in providing fire safety, fire fighting, road traffic accident and community safety work, or activities incidental to those functions only. LFB cannot, therefore, provide housing to the general public as it is not a housing authority.

Tube Noise – Lift accessibility Harrow on the Hill Station

Navin Shah: I’m raising this issue on behalf of disabled service users of Harrow Mencap: As part of the step-free access programme at Harrow on the Hill station, has there been consultations with disabled people/groups on making the lifts as accessible as possible, for examples buttons that are accessible for wheelchair users?

The Mayor: The new lifts Transport for London (TfL) is installing at Harrow-on-the-Hill station meet British accessibility standards.
The 17-person lifts will be large enough for wheelchairs to move comfortably within the lift, and include lift buttons at an accessible height and visibility, handrails in the lift car, and announcements as the lift reaches its destination. The lifts also have a ‘through’ design, meaning that people enter the lift through one door, and exit on the opposite side. This means that wheelchairs users do not need to turn within the lift.
While TfL did not consult on the design of these lifts, a TfL officer will be in touch with your office to offer a meeting with you and Harrow Mencap to discuss the step-free programme at Harrow-on-the-Hill in further detail.

Bullying on public transport

Navin Shah: I’m raising this issue on behalf of disabled service users of Harrow Mencap: What work is being done to assess and deal with bullying on public transport towards disabled people?

The Mayor: Tackling hate crime of all forms is one of my top priorities and I’m determined to stamp out all forms of hate crime on the network, working alongside Transport for London and the police. There is a programme of activity underway to reassure the travelling public that the network is safe, to improve the public’s confidence to report offences to the police knowing that action will be taken and to target those that commit these appalling offences. Key elements include Operation Safer Travel for All (STfA), which is a programme of coordinated days of engagement and the #WeStandTogether communications campaign.
Harrow’s Safer Transport Team (STT) arrange regular engagement events at Harrow Bus Station and the Red Brick Café that are focused on supporting disabled people. Harrow STT have previously worked directly with Mencap in Harrow, and would be happy to do co-ordinate further targeted work. My team will arrange this.

Tube Noise – Jubilee Line

Navin Shah: Residents near Kingsbury and Wembley Park Stations have written to me about an increase in noise from the Jubilee Line that is persistent and intrusive. The noise is mainly from the Northbound trains which run every two minutes and all through thenight on Fridayand Saturdays. TFL are aware of the situation but, as yet, according to the residents nothing has been done to improve the situation. Have there been changes to that track that is causing this increase in noise and what testing has been done around the levels of noise if such changes have been made? Can I have an update on the current situation and any plans TfL have to deal with the noise which is unbearable both inside and outside the house?

The Mayor: There have not been any recent changes to the track in this area. Transport for London (TfL) is aware of the concerns about Tube noise that some residents are experiencing in this area, and has recently carried out noise measurements at local properties.
TfL is investigating whether lubrication can be applied, which could reduce noise levels for impacted residents. I have asked TfL to update you, along with local residents, once this investigation has been completed.

Toxic Air around schools

Navin Shah: A resident has raised an issue aboutthe pollution around their area during weekdays caused during schools runs, particularly idling cars. The school also allows for its grounds to be rented for event-day parking, this contributing to pollution during weekends. The resident is particularly concerned about the poor air quality for children in the area and would like to know what is being done/can be done to reduce the use of cars for school runs, idling and the impact of these on the local communities in which schools are situated.

The Mayor: Through my air quality audits, I have delivered measures to reduce children’s exposure to poor air quality on their journey to and from school at 50 schools and 20 nurseries in the most polluted areas. As part of the programme, I established a Forum where schools and boroughs can share best practice on tackling idling and reducing car use. The school in question might wish to participate and I am happy to ask my officers to extend an invitation to the next Forum, they may also visit https://idlingaction.london/ for resources and links to community actions.
I have also funded a pan-London project through the Mayor’s Air Quality Fund, which expands on work I have previously funded to tackle idling. This project will have a particular focus on idling around schools.
More widely, I am taking bold action to improve air quality. This includes cleaning up London’s bus and taxi fleets, and introducing the Ultra Low Emission Zone. In 2020 I will be tightening emission standards for buses, lorries and coaches across the whole of London and in 2021 I will expand the ULEZ up to the North/South circular roads. This will help reduce child exposure to pollution and ensure that every school in London is located in areas which meet legal pollution limits by 2025.

Cup and Ball scammers

Susan Hall: Giving an annual breakdown since 2008/09, please state how many reports the Met has received of gangs on Westminster Bridge trying scam people through the "three cup trick"?

The Mayor: The calls that Central West BCU receive and the comments on Twitter with regard to the ‘three cup trick’ tend to be from concerned members of the public as oppose to people who have fallen victim to this. It is not currently possible to quantify the number received, illegal street gambling does not have a specific opening code on CAD incident

Water Fountains (9)

Susan Hall: How many applications have you had for water fountains within the Thames Water supply area?

The Mayor: To help Londoners ditch single-use plastic bottles and reduce plastic waste, I have entered into a partnership with Thames Water to install a network of over 100 drinking water fountains across London. This will be in addition to the 28 fountains I have already installed with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
In November last year, I invited applications to host a fountain from all Londoners, including London boroughs, other public landowners, private landowners, and leaseholders/ managing agents. We received 245 applications, which included 191 applications within the Thames Water supply area and 31 applications outside the Thames Water supply area. The remaining 23 applications were deemed invalid as they did not fulfil the application criteria.

London Plan Density (1)

Steve O'Connell: Further to your response to question 2019/8973, the first paragraph of your answer related to the current Policy 3.4 which includes a density matrix but did not answer the question on Policy D6 which requested why Policy D6 does not give guidance to applicants for the appropriate densities for development proposals at given localities and therefore does not meet the requirements of NPPF para 16 and 122.

16.Plans should:
d)contain policies that are clearly written and unambiguous, so it is evident how a decision maker should react to development proposals;

122. Planning policies and decisions should support development that makes efficient use of land, taking into account:
c)the availability and capacity of infrastructure and services – both existing and proposed – as well as their potential for further improvement and the scope to promote sustainable travel modes that limit future car use;
d)the desirability of maintaining an area’s prevailing character and setting (including residential gardens), or of promoting regeneration and change; and

The second part of the first paragraph provided a history of planning officers’ failure to implement the provisions of the density matrix. This suggests that planning officers were ignoring the policy to meet housing targets, not that the Policy 3.4 was flawed. The result of officers ignoring the policy is the visible increase in local congestion due to over-development, overcrowding and inadequate public transport to support the approved high densities of which supporting evidence is available.

With the replacement Policy D6, if there is no defined relationship, or methodology, what way is there of preventing public transport under or over capacity or traffic congestion as residents in high density developments (localities) revert to cars due to unavailable public transport capacities?

The Mayor: The density ranges in the SRQ density matrix in the current London Plan provide no indication of whether there is enough infrastructure to support a development or not.
In contrast, my draft London Plan provides clear policy to ensure boroughs plan for the delivery of infrastructure necessary to support new housing and ensures that the scale of a development does not exceed current or future planned supporting infrastructure. Policy D1A Infrastructure requirements for sustainable densities is clear that ‘where there is currently insufficient capacity of existing infrastructure to support proposed densities (including the impact of cumulative development), boroughs should work with applicants and infrastructure providers to ensure that sufficient capacity will exist at the appropriate time’. It is also clear that where a ‘borough considers the planned infrastructure capacity will be exceeded, additional infrastructure proportionate to the development should be delivered through the development’.
My officers in the London Plan team would be happy to discuss the SRQ density matrix and its application, and the draft Plan’s approach to density with you.

Emergency service noise

Tony Devenish: What are you doing to ensure that the use of sirens by emergency service vehicles is kept to a minimum at night when people are sleeping?

The Mayor: The use of sirens during emergency response is an operational decision for drivers. It is controlled by Regulation 99 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulation 1986.
Emergency vehicle drivers know that sirens must be used with restraint, particularly at night, so as not to cause a nuisance to residents or other road users. There will, however, always be occasions when it is necessary for the emergency services to use sirens in the interests of road safety and the protection of the public.

Heathrow Expansion

Tony Devenish: Given the current consultation on Heathrow expansion does not address the Government’s recent commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, do you agree there is a clear need to go back to the drawing board?

The Mayor: I agree. As the UK’s 2050 carbon target has now been tightened, the assessment of whether expansion at Heathrow will have a material impact on the UK’s ability to meet national carbon reduction targets and carbon budgets needs to be reassessed.
A revised National Policy Statement, along with new policies to address emissions from aviation, is now urgently required to ensure the sector plays its fair role in addressing the climate emergency.

TfL Security Safeguarding

Tony Devenish: What exactly does TfL do to safeguard security concerns with the 75,000 lost debit and credit cards in its lost property following FOI findings?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) does not take enquiries for – or process and store – individual bank cards, which are securely destroyed when found. TfL recommends customers contact their bank immediately to report the loss of a bank card and arrange a replacement.
Although bank cards are destroyed and not processed as lost property, TfL still accounts for and reports on these items, which are recorded at the locations at which they are found.
Bank cards which are contained in other property, such as a wallet or purse, are kept with the main item and stored securely. Items which remain unclaimed after the requisite period have all personal data removed and are securely destroyed.

Number of Activities on the Our London Map

Jennette Arnold: How many activities are there in each Borough featured on the Our London map?

The Mayor: There are over 700 activities currently displayed on the Our London Map, many of which are focused on school holiday activities and are being delivered by my Young Londoners Funded projects. There are activities featured in every London borough. Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Lambeth have the highest number of activities listed on the map - this could be due to a combination of more activities taking place in these areas and a greater awareness of Our London from organisations in those boroughs. Even where activities are focused in a particular borough, they are often open to young people from other parts of London. A breakdown of activities by London borough is attached.
We are in the process of upgrading the Our London Map to make it more user-friendly and to encourage more organisations to upload their opportunities.
Boroughs
Number of Activities on Our London Map
Barking and Dagenham
15
Barnet
6
Bexley
3
Brent
27
Bromley
2
Camden
52
City of London
3
Croydon
9
Ealing
6
Enfield
11
Greenwich
39
Hackney
69
Hammersmith and Fulham
19
Haringey
52
Harrow
11
Havering
5
Hillingdon
4
Hounslow
13
Islington
106
Kensington and Chelsea
21
Kingston Upon Thames
3
Lambeth
61
Lewisham
14
Merton
6
Newham
27
Redbridge
3
Richmond Upon Thames
2
Southwark
43
Sutton
3
Tower Hamlets
63
Waltham Forest
11
Wandsworth
20
Westminster
19

Young Londoners Fund Recipients

Jennette Arnold: When will the next recipients of the Young Londoners Fund be announced?

The Mayor: The applicants that applied for a Young Londoners Fund small grant will be notified in the week commencing 9 September 2019. We plan to publicly announce the recipients of small grants at the beginning of October once all financial due diligence checks have been completed.
The applicants that applied for a Young Londoners Fund medium or large grant will be notified by 18 October 2019. We plan to publicly announce the recipients of medium and large grants in early November.

Borough trials to support your Transport Strategy

Caroline Russell: Campaigners have raised concerns with me that trials to support walking, cycling and reducing through traffic have been curtailed at short notice by councils, such as Tower Hamlets and Newham. Your Transport Strategy calls on boroughs to reduce traffic. How are you supporting boroughs to enable them to conduct and complete trials of schemes that will reduce London’s traffic?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) recognises the importance of innovative, proactive and collaborative approaches to delivering traffic reduction schemes through its borough funding programmes - and has reflected this in core guidance documents, including the Liveable Neighbourhoods borough guidance.
This guidance clearly encourages boroughs to use more innovative techniques, such as trials and open street events, to engage with communities to promote less traffic dominance on local streets - and to encourage people-centric use, such as markets or social events.
Over the past 18 months, TfL has worked with a number of local authorities, including Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Haringey and Ealing, to deliver trials as a means of promoting traffic-free routes and increasing the uptake of active travel. However, given that TfL is not the traffic authority for 95 per cent of London’s streets, it is for the local authorities to decide which specific traffic-reduction schemes they take forward on their roads.

LLDC Planning Powers

Jennette Arnold: Along with many of my constituents, I welcome the Mayor’s recognition that the LLDC is a sunset organisation and the work he is doing to press them for a transition plan. Could I urge the Mayor to require the LLDC to work towards adopting a plan that would see planning powers return to the ‘Olympic’ Boroughs by 2022?

The Mayor: The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) has a time-limited remit and planning for the eventual transition of LLDC’s responsibilities has begun. This includes the return of planning powers to the relevant boroughs. As I have previously set out, the transition process itself will begin within the next mayoral term and I am assured that LLDC are actively working on a transition strategy that will meet this timescale. My Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills, Jules Pipe,along with senior officers, will shortly be meeting with the Leader and Mayors of the Olympic boroughs specifically to discuss the issue of transition.

Government target for remediating buildings with ACM cladding (2)

Andrew Dismore: On 18 July, James Brokenshire MP, who was secretary of state at MHCLG at the time, said that all social sector buildings with ACM cladding should be fixed by Christmas 2019. How many dwellings are contained in buildings that the GLA’s administration of the social sector cladding remediation fund have to cover between 12 September 2019 and December 31 2019, that have not already been allocated funding?

The Mayor: Based on the estimated dates of completion from social landlords, this commitment will not be met. It was an unrealistic and irresponsible deadline.

Support for Educators and Children’s Services Brexit Preparations

Jennette Arnold: How are youworking with local authorities and the Department for Education tosupportLondon’s children’s services and education providers to prepare for Brexit?

The Mayor: Making sure that our children's services and education providers are ready for Brexit is essential to mitigating against any detrimental impact that may be felt by young Londoners and I am committed to working with partners to make sure they receive the support they need. I have launched guidance to help carers, teachers and those supportingchildrento understandhow to securerights to British citizenship and residence. My Skills for Londoners Innovation Fundincludes a priority to address retraining requirements arising from Brexit.
I have been working with the Department for Education to make sure that education providers in London are clear about the Adult Education Budget eligibility rules for European Nationals. I refer you also to my reply to Mayor's Question2019/6217 on my support for putting the entire teaching profession on the shortage occupation list for visas (https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2019/6217). Teacher recruitment will be even more challenging if the Centre for Social Justice’s recommendation for a £36,700 minimum wage for visa applicants is included in the Government’s new immigration scheme.

Our London Programme Beneficiaries

Jennette Arnold: How many young people benefited from the Our London programme this summer?

The Mayor: This summer, the Our London Map displayed over 700 opportunities for young Londoners across the capital. These opportunities ranged from sports and music, to dance and social action. Many of the activities are led by organisations supported through the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund, including the Sport Unites summer activities. From 22nd July to 3rd September over 9,000 unique visits were made to the Our London Map page, with 11,588 clicks on activities. We are in the process of upgrading the Our London Map to make it more user-friendly and to encourage more organisations to upload their opportunities.

Africa In London Mentoring Scheme Follow Up

Jennette Arnold: How will you follow up with and support all those who applied to the Africa in London mentoring scheme, including those who may not receive a place?

The Mayor: As part of the scheme, there will be a free masterclass held in the coming months that will be open to all applicants. This session will offer guidance from industry experts on a range of topics including best practice in production processes and research and evaluation methods. It will also offer a networking opportunity for independent producers interested in Africa arts programming across London.

Africa In London Mentoring

Jennette Arnold: When will you be announcing the successful applicants to the Africa in London mentoring scheme?

The Mayor: Successful applicants will be announced by the 30thSeptember 2019.

Progress Following Exclusions Report

Jennette Arnold: What progress has been made on the commitments outlined in your response to our report on exclusions?

The Mayor: Since my response on 28 June to the Education Panel’s exclusions report, I have progressed this work with my Health, Education and Youth team and my Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). In July, I announced that the VRU will be funding a programme to reduce school exclusions which will support schools to become more inclusive and nurturing, as developed in Glasgow. I am working with schools, local authorities and communities to deliver a programme of support for young people at difficult points in their school journey. There will be a particular focus on those with special educational needs and support for transition from primary to secondary school. I will also expand and promote after-school provision, especially activity for young people during the times of 4-7pm during the weekdays.
My Stepping Stones schools have been running summer schools during the holidays for 400 vulnerable 11-year-olds who are about to move to secondary school. My team have received profiles from around 100 of the new 2019 Schools for Success which explain how they have been supporting their most disadvantaged pupils, these will be published on www.london.gov.uk/schools-for-success later this month. I published the updated London Education Report on 8 July which provides London specific information on exclusions www.london.gov.uk/london-education-report On 14 October, a GLA-Whole Schools SEND seminar will be held at City Hall to share best practice from schools and other experts around tackling unnecessary exclusions and providing the right early support.

GDPR

Tony Devenish: What steps have you taken to make sure no GLA body falls foul of the Information Commissioner's Office on GDPR?

The Mayor: Our focus is on complying with GDPR’s seven key principles to protect and properly use personal data.
As you will know, GDPR requires that public bodies appoint a data protection officer (DPO), who is able to work independently and is an expert in data protection, to, among other things, inform and advise on data protection obligations, and monitor internal compliance. DPOs have, across the GLA group, and with appropriate senior manager support and sponsorship, led preparatory work and are now leading work to embed GDPR and ensure ongoing compliance.
Examples of steps taken include:

Water Fountains (5)

Susan Hall: How will you be funding water fountains in areas outside the Thames Water supply area?

The Mayor: I believe that all Londoners should have access to free drinking water when on-the-go, and that drinking fountains should provide a critical part of achieving this ambition
In order to ensure London-wide coverage, my Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy has contacted all the water companies that provide water to Londoners in addition to Thames Water. These are Essex and Suffolk Water, SES Water and Affinity Water. She has asked each water company if they would be willing work with me to provide water fountains for public use in the areas where they provide water to Greater London.
SES Water have responded stating their support of this initiative and willingness to work with the GLA to install drinking fountains and connect them to their water supply network. My officers are planning a meeting with SES Water to discuss forming the partnership and develop a project plan to deliver water fountains within their water supply area.
I will continue to push the other water companies to follow suit.

Taxi and Private Hire Trade (7)

David Kurten: What percentage of (i) private hire drivers (ii) taxi drivers have been tested for disability awareness?

The Mayor: All wheelchair accessible private hire vehicle owners and all new taxi drivers are informed of their responsibilities under the Equality Act on the grant of their licence. Transport for London (TfL) also provides specific guidance to existing licensees on its website (www.tfl.gov.uk/tph-access). Further guidance on supporting passengers who are wheelchair users or who have an assistance dog is given to newly licensed taxi drivers.
TfL is currently considering a range of measures affecting both new and existing private hire drivers in order to improve passenger safety. This would include both safeguarding and disability equality, as part of an enhanced driver assessment package. However, it is important that TfL considers the not-yet-published results of the Department for Transport’s (DfT’s) consultation on statutory guidance for taxi and private hire licensing authorities, as well as the DfT’s response to the Task and Finish Group’s report, before finalising its own proposals to ensure consistency.

Leasehold homes (2)

Tom Copley: The Government has recently stated that it will legislate to ensure all new ground rents are £0, which is a good step to supporting leaseholders, but do you think their proposals go far enough to help existing leaseholders stuck with onerous and pernicious terms?

The Mayor: No, I have made clear to the Government that I believe much more should be done to support existing leaseholders in onerous contracts. I have called on the Government to ensure that leasehold legislation and the legal system are fit for purpose to enable leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of service charges and ground rents.
I have published a Leasehold Guide for Londoners to help inform individuals’ choices about leasehold property, but this is no substitute for the Government producing concrete proposals for legislative reform.

PCSO enforcement on CS2

Caroline Russell: A constituent has raised concerns with me about a disproportionate focus on the behaviour of people cycling by Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) carrying out enforcement on cycle superhighway 2 (CS2). At the same time, this constituent has observed regular dangerous behaviour by people driving along this route, which has apparently gone unchecked. Given your Vision Zero strategy, what will you do to ensure enforcement is fair and proportionate to the danger posed?

The Mayor: The Metropolitan Police Service's (MPS) Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC) work closely with Transport for London (TfL) to use intelligence-led enforcement to focus on the greatest sources of road danger, whilst prioritising the safety of our most vulnerable road users, which include cyclists. The RTPC are focused on a number of priority offences, such as speeding, the use of hand-held mobile phones when driving, uninsured and unlicensed drivers, and dangerous or careless driving.
Police enforcement activity is conducted in a balanced way. Whilst enforcement is targeted most at those causing danger, the RTPC will take proportionate enforcement activity against cyclists who are putting themselves and others at risk.

Starting Well 13

Onkar Sahota: What engagement has the GLA had with the London-specific Starting Well 13 programme?

The Mayor: My Health Inequalities Strategy makes clear that I want partners to take further action on improving child oral health.
I welcome the NHS’s Starting Well 13 initiative, which identified high risk areas in England including Ealing. Dental practices promote children’s services, encouraging them to see a dentist early to prevent high decay rates and referrals to hospitals. They identify a practice champion to be responsible for audit, feedback, sharing good practice and to engage in outreach work with local schools and nurseries, many of which are participating in my programmes (for example Healthy Early Years).
Primary dental care staff at NHS England have recently updated GLA officers about plans to extend Starting Well 13 Plus to other areas in London, which I would welcome.

Tube Noise Complaints (2)

Tony Devenish: How many of the complaints TfL has received regarding Tube noise since May 2008 have been resolved?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) has received 1,187 complaints regarding Tube noise since November 2015. Of these, 902 cases have been closed.
Addressing Tube noise is a priority for Transport for London (TfL).
In November 2015, prior to the launch of Night Tube in 2016, TfL put in place a new system for recording Tube noise complaints, to ensure complaints were measured accurately.
Previous records of Tube noise complaints included some instances of duplication and complaints that were not related to the day-to-day running of the Tube network. To ensure accuracy and consistency, figures have been provided from November 2015 onwards.

No-deal preparation funding

Leonie Cooper: How much ofthe £2.1 billion being spent on no-deal preparationsnationally is being spent in London,and what could thishave been better spent on if we were not crashing out of the EU without a deal?

The Mayor: In total, HM Treasury has made available over £6.3 billion to prepare for Brexit – whether the UK leaves the EU with or without a deal.
The vast majority of this spending is at a national level; evidence the Government’s determination to deliver an unwanted no-deal Brexit has redirected resources from addressing more important challenges. We are still living with the painful consequences of years of cuts to public services as a result of austerity. Those cuts have disproportionately impacted the most vulnerable in society and exacerbated economic inequality.
The total amount allocated by the government to help local authorities to prepare for Brexit is £77m,of which £10.97m is for the London boroughs and £272,909 for the GLA. The Government have also recently advised that the GLA will receive further funding to support the London Economic Action Partnership's business readiness activity delivered through the London Growth Hub.

Northern Line signal failures

Andrew Dismore: How many times have there been signal failures per month on the Northern line for each month of 2019? What have been the causes of them, and how do you plan to reduce instances of signal failure?

The Mayor: There have been 77 signal failures on the Northern line in 2019 (up to 02 September 2019). The figures for each month are:
The vast majority of these signal failures were for short durations, and Transport for London (TfL) worked to resolve the issues as quickly as possible, to ensure that Londoners could get to their destinations. A number of these failures were caused by points and crossings and the axel counting system (which identifies when a train has entered and left a specific area).
Plans to address these issues are underway. More robust parts are being introduced at points and crossings on the Northern line, as part of a wider track improvement programme across the Northern, Jubilee and Piccadilly lines. TfL has also introduced monitoring equipment that detects deterioration of track, so that mitigation work can be carried out early before signal failures take place.

Silkstream flooding [4]

Andrew Dismore: Your current Greener City Fund round specifically mentions sustainable drainage improvements as potentially receiving funding. Will you be encouraging affected residents near the Silk Stream and in Colindale to apply?

The Mayor: The third round of Community Green Space Grants, part of my Greener City Fund, are open for applications until 30 September. I would welcome an application from community groups in Colindale, or from Barnet Council, for any suitable projects.
My Community Green Space Grants offer between £5,000 and £50,000 to improve and create green spaces. These grants can support a range of different projects including sustainable drainage schemes, improvements to parks, creating community gardens and greening school playgrounds. These grants have supported over 130 projects to date, including 10 sustainable drainage projects. Details of how to apply can be found at: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/parks-green-spaces-and-biodiversity/greener-city-fund/community-grants.
I have also recently published a guide to help communities run their own depaving projects. It illustrates how to set up projects that can slow the flow of rainfall to sewers and waterways and reduce flood risk. This guide can be found at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/grey_to_green_guide.pdf.

Silkstream flooding [2]

Andrew Dismore: What further work will you be undertaking to reduce flooding from the Silkstream?

The Mayor: I am already supporting the Silk Stream Valley Parks regeneration project which is being undertaken by Barnet Council (see Mayor’s Question 2019/17624). This project is providing flood risk management measures, which are already proving to be successful. In addition to this, the Environment Agency, who are the organisation responsible for managing flood risk from rivers, are working with Barnet on the Silk Stream to assess flood risk in Colindeep Lane, Colindale. This assessment will provide recommendations for further flood risk reduction measures in the area and is due to be complete early autumn.
Preliminary results from the assessment suggest a range of small flood risk interventions - which includes natural flood management measures such as wetlands and sustainable drainage - will be more effective rather than a single, large scale flood scheme.

NHS Affordable Homes (2)

Navin Shah: The NHS aims to build 12500 homes on its surplus land by 2028. Do you expect then to meet your requirement of 50% affordable homes?

The Mayor: The London Health and Care Estate Strategy identifies the opportunity for the NHS to release land capable of delivering 12,500 homes by 2028. The draft London Plan expects public sector land, which includes NHS land, to deliver at least 50 per centaffordable and establishes a threshold of 50 per centaffordable to benefit from the Fast Track route for planning applications. Each site will be subject to commercial and financial viability tests which would need to demonstrate why this target could not be met, if that were the case.

Borough waste management (2)

Leonie Cooper: If any Boroughs fail to commit to segregated food waste collections as part of their RRPs, will you at that stage employ your powers of direction?

The Mayor: My London Environment Strategy Proposal 7.2.1.a requires boroughs to meet a minimum service level for household recycling by 2020, including weekly food waste collections for all kerbside properties that are presented, collected and treated separately from garden waste.
In the Reduction and Recycling Plans (RRPs) to be developed by each borough by 2020 (Strategy Proposal 7.2.1.b), I expect boroughs to demonstrate how they will meet my minimum service level for household recycling.
While I ultimately possesses the power to direct an authority if I believe their actions to be detrimental to the delivery of my Strategy, I consider this to be an option of last resort.

Metropolitan Police Officer Transferees

Unmesh Desai: How many police officers have transferred to another police force in each of the following years: 2014. 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 so far?

The Mayor: The table below shows Police Officers who are shown as having left the Met to join another Police Force by calendar year. 2019 contains data up to August 2019.
Year
No of transferees out of the MPS
2014
215
2015
171
2016
223
2017
388
2018
316
2019 (Up to August)
228

Settled status (1)

Leonie Cooper: How many Londoners have been granted ‘pre-settled and settled status’?

The Mayor: The Government’s statistics on the EU Settlement Scheme do not provide details on the application outcome at a local level.
As of 30 June 2019, 340,870 applications have been made to the EU Settlement Scheme in London.
As of 31 August 2019, 1,151,000 applications in the UK have received decisions from the Home Office – 62 per centwere granted settled status, 37 per centwere granted pre-settled status.

Borough waste management (3)

Leonie Cooper: How are your officers engaging with Wandsworth Council to overcome their apparent resistance to a circular economy approach that champions waste reduction and recycling?

The Mayor: My officers have engaged every London borough in the development of their Reduction and Recycling Plan (RRP) to be completed by 2020 (London Environment Strategy Proposal 7.2.1.b). Borough officer engagement has taken place at the London Recycling Officers Group, the Association of London Cleansing Officers and the London Environmental Directors Network where Wandsworth officers have been present. Every borough has been provided with an RRP template and guidance.
My officers have met with Wandsworth waste officers to discuss their RRP following concerns about its lateness. Following that meeting, the London Borough of Wandsworth is now working to develop its RRP by 2020 as it is required to do. Further support in developing the RRPs has been made available through the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) Resource London programme. Resource London offered Wandsworth support in developing an RRP and provided a benchmarking document to assist in setting local targets.

Evaluation of new firefighting equipment

Andrew Dismore: The under-trial drone, PPV ventilation, and Cobra lance showed their worth at the 15 pump fire in Westbourne Grove on 12th August. When will we see the outcome of the evaluation and when will see procurement of this equipment for wider availability?

The Mayor: The drone trial, using hired drones, has enabled London Fire Brigade (LFB) to understand how to use the drones most effectively as well as how many and what type of drones could be needed in the future. LFB currently has two drones in service. An outcome and future recommendations paper will be submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, Safety and Assurance in October 2019.
The LFB Specialist Entry Recovery Team (SERT) currently use both Positive Pressure Ventilation (PPV) and Ultra High Pressure Lance (UHPL) technology at incidents. The Operational Policy team has developed proposals that recommend a trial conducted over three phases which, if successful, could lead to the widespread introduction into service on frontline appliances. Alternatives to UHPL technology, such as fog nails, are also being considered, and the evidence from this work will be considered alongside the evaluation of the PPV and UHPL trials in 2020.

Local 20 mph zones

Andrew Dismore: What funding is available via TfL to make ward-wide 20 mph zones?

The Mayor: To achieve Vision Zero, we must dramatically reduce both the likelihood and severity of casualties. Reducing speeds, including to 20 mph in appropriate areas, is vital to reducing road danger and encouraging more people to walk, cycle and use public transport.
Ward-wide 20mph zones would be implemented by London’s boroughs. The boroughs are able to deliver ward-wide 20 mph zones using Transport for London’s (TfL’s) ‘Corridors neighbourhoods and supporting measures’ funding stream. £63m is allocated to this fund annually, which is apportioned to the boroughs using an agreed formula. In addition, boroughs would be able to include ward-wide 20 mph zones within their ‘Liveable Neighbourhood’ schemes. Boroughs bid for funding through the Liveable Neighbourhood programme. The second phase of funding for this was announced in March 2019, totalling £53m, on top of the £33m announced in 2017.
TfL is encouraging boroughs to use these funding streams through both Local Implementation Plan guidance and individual engagement, and is supporting boroughs to deliver additional and more effective 20mph limits through the soon-to-be-published Lower Speeds Toolkit and by providing necessary data.

NHS Long Term Plan implementation

Onkar Sahota: Following the publication of the implementation guide for the NHS Long Term Plan, what discussions have you had with Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) teams on their plans reducing health inequalities?

The Mayor: I was pleased to see the commitment to tackling health inequalities in the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) and have discussed this with the Regional Director for NHS London, Sir David Sloman. The impact on health inequalities is one of my six tests, which I will be applying to STP/ICS plans to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan in due course.
We continue to work closely with London STP leads, the regional NHS team and other health and care leaders to mobilise my London Health Inequalities Strategy. The GLA Health Team and my statutory health advisor (Dr Paul Plant) have been working closely with partners on this, informing and supporting pan-London workshops convened by NHS London, and by developing resources and providing advice to support STPs in the development of local LTPs and their health inequalities plans.

Healthy air, healthier children

Onkar Sahota: What steps has your office taken to implement the recommendations in the “Healthy air, healthier children” report?

The Mayor: Improving air quality to protect the health of children is one of my biggest priorities. I welcomed the Health and Environment Alliance’s ‘Healthy air, healthier children’ report on the air quality around primary schools across six European capital cities. Progress is already being made against all three of its recommendations for London.
Firstly, School Streets have been introduced at schools across London including in Greenwich, Westminster and Hackney. The report highlights London’s leadership in this area, calling for government to give all councils the same powers as London boroughs to enforce School Streets.
Secondly, to promote active transport London is expanding its cycling network and adopting the Healthy Streets approach to ensure the city is walking and cycling friendly. 1,500 schools, nurseries and colleges are already signed up to TfL’s STARS programme that replace 13 million miles' worth of car journeys with walking, cycling and scooting every year.
Finally, the Mayor’s air quality school and nursery programmes undertook audits at 50 primary schools and 20 nurseries and have provided boroughs with a toolkit and access to funding to carry out audits at other schools. The Breathe London network has installed real time monitoring at 35 primary schools and over 250 pupils from across London have taken part in a wearable sensor study.

Night time enterprise zones

Onkar Sahota: Will the night time enterprise zone funding award consider improving spaces for night time workers, as well as creating more leisure activities for consumers?

The Mayor: On 10 September, I announced the London Borough of Waltham Forest as the successful Night Time Enterprise Zone pilot project.
One of the key aims of the Zone is to support good work standards for night workers. The pilot project will engage with night-time workers to identify the issues and constraints they face and how they can be better supported through new research and a series of participatory workshops. A number of the proposed pilot activities will support night time workers and businesses. They will aim to do this by offering entrepreneurs low-cost and flexible business spaces to hire in the evenings, establishing a new fund to help business and community groups host events after 6pm, and creating a step-by-step guide for night-time businesses to help them apply for planning and licensing approval.

Emails and Communication between First Group TOL about Fatigue Audit IA 17780 sent between 19 May 2017 and 7 July 2017

Caroline Pidgeon: Further to the documents yousent me fromQuestion 2019/12001, you did not provide any emails between FirstGroup TOL and TfL between 19 May 2017 and 7 July 2017. Please provide these.

The Mayor: I have asked Transport for London to provide you with this information.

Removal of "Priority 1 Issues" from Fatigue Audit IA 17780

Caroline Pidgeon: Further to the documents yousent me fromQuestion 2019/12001, I note that the 11 July 2017 Version of IA 17780 listed "Priority 1 issues" in the Executive Summary, stated:
• Tram Operations Limited (TOL) management of driver’s hours of work, and the roster design, do notconsider fatigue risk factors or reference industry good practice.
• TOL’s fatigue awareness training for managers and supervisors does not includefactors that increase fatigue or how to recognise fatigue in others.
• TOL has no formal process for determining when a fatigue risk analysis shouldbe carried out or reviewed.
These priority 1 issues do not appear in any later drafts of IA 17780 or in the final version published on 15 September 2017. Please provide me with documentation which discusses thereasons why these Priority 1 issues were taken out of the document.

The Mayor: It is not correct to say that those issues were taken out of the report. The issues remained in both the executive summary and also in the body of the report.
See the report for each of the issues:
[A] is dealt with at paragraphs 1.2 and 3.4
[B] is dealt with at paragraphs 2.2, 2.3, 3.2 and 3.9
[C] is dealt with at paragraphs 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 and 3.10
This fairly reflected the fact that these actions were already being undertaken by Tram Operations Ltd rather than new actions which they needed to initiate.

Health incidents on the TfL network (1)

Onkar Sahota: How many cases occurred in each year from 2016 of an individual becoming unwell on TfL’s network and requiring medical assistance?

The Mayor: The attached table shows a breakdown, by transport mode, of passengers becoming unwell on Transport for London’s (TfL’s) network and requiring medical assistance.
The data represents incidents reported to TfL and recorded in our safety management systems.
Data for Trams, Docklands Light Rail, London Overground and TfL Rail is not centrally collated and therefore has not been included within this response.
For 2019, the information is from 1st January to 31st August.

Health incidents on the TfL network (2)

Onkar Sahota: In each year from 2016, in how many cases of an individual becoming unwell on TfL’s network and requiring medical assistance were helped by a medical worker who intervened while off duty?

The Mayor: The attached table shows the number of cases of an individual becoming unwell on the London Underground network and requiring assistance, provided by an off-duty medical worker. Off-duty medical workers have provided assistance in between five and eight per cent of all instances of passengers becoming unwell and requiring assistance on the London Underground.
The information for the rest of the Transport for London network does not capture the detail required to identify if medical staff intervened when off duty.
For 2019 the information is from 1st January to 31st August.

Water Fountains (3)

Andrew Boff: What sponsorship opportunities have you investigated for the new water fountains?

The Mayor: Different funding models, including sponsorship opportunities, were explored, however a partnership with UK’s largest water and wastewater services provider, Thames Water, who supply water to the majority of Greater London, was deemed to be the most effective option for delivering the water fountains programme.
As London’s main water supplier, the programme can leverage their expertise in procuring assets, assessing site feasibility and securing efficient and timely installation of the fountains, including their connection to the water supply and drainage networks.
Thames Water also agreed to match our £2.5m funding, providing a £5m fund to create a network of new drinking fountains. Furthermore, Thames Water committed to own the water fountain assets and fund the long-term maintenance and cleaning of the fountains for at least 25 years (estimate value of this is £15m).

Measures to Improve Fatigue Risk Management put in place by First Group TOL after 9 November 2016 and before 19 May 2017

Caroline Pidgeon: Further to my unanswered Question 2019/8807 from 16 May 2019, a news report published shortly after showed a tram driver filmed asleep at the controls on 19 May 2017. In response aFirst Group Representative was quoted as saying ""Over the past few months we have put in place additional measures to increase awareness of fatigue amongst our drivers, including individual briefings by our management, and we will continue toreinforce this."https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sadiq-khan-croydon-tram-driver-asleep-first-group-crash-derailment-mayor-london-a7744371.html. What“additional measures” were put in place to increaseawareness of fatigue amongst its drivers after 9 November 2016 and before 19 May 2017?

The Mayor: Please see my response to Mayor's Question 2019/8807.

TfL Decision to Increase the Speed Limits on the Croydon Tram

Caroline Pidgeon: In the week after the Croydon Tram crash in November 2016, the Guardian published an article which alleged "Many speed restrictions on the network were lifted by Transport for London when it replaced tracks after bringing the route under its control in 2008, 10 years after it first opened. "https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/10/croydon-tram-crash-police-examine-reports-of-incident-in-previous-week. Can you provide any background documentation about that decision, where the speeds were increased, who had the responsibility for making that decision and what actions were taken to ensure the increase in tram speeds would be monitored for safety?

The Mayor: When Transport for London (TfL) took over the responsibility for the maintenance of the Tramway the condition of the track in certain locations required the implementation of Temporary Speed Restrictions (TSR’s) to safely deal with sub-standard conditions. TfL then undertook a track replacement programme in order to replace the sections of track where the TSR’s existed. Once complete this allowed the TSR’s to be removed and normal line speed restored. These decisions would have been made in line with the relevant engineering standards at the time.

Building homes on NHS land update (1)

Onkar Sahota: Please provide an update on discussions over building homes on the Whittington Health Trust estate, King George’s Hospital and Goodmayes Hospital sites in Redbridge, and the St Bernard’s Hospital site in Ealing

The Mayor: The GLA is working with the respective NHS Trusts to help identify the potential future configuration of their sites. No decisions have been take on whether land will be released for alternative uses.

Settled status (4)

Leonie Cooper: Can you find out how many Londoners have been rejected ‘pre-settled and settled status’?

The Mayor: The Government’s statistics on the EU Settlement Scheme do not provide details on the application outcome at a local level. City Hall has called for more detailed data to be made available to inform local outreach and to ensure that all EEA+ Londoners and their families can access the scheme.
As of 30 June 2019, 340,870 applications have been made to the EU Settlement Scheme in London.
As of 30 June 2019 across the UK, no applications have been refused, although 2,010 applications were ‘withdrawn or void’, and a further 260 were ‘invalid’. I continue to advocate to Government to ensure that all EU, EEA and Swiss Londoners and their families can access the EU Settlement Scheme.

Notification and Investigation of Major Incidents (NIMI) Reports submitted by London Bus Operators in 2018 (2)

Caroline Pidgeon: During the calendar year of 2018, how many major incident investigation reports (as per the NIMI Process) were submitted by London’s bus operators to TfL?

The Mayor: There have been 144 Notification and Investigation of Major Incidents(NIMI)submitted to Transport for London (TfL) by London’s bus operators in 2018.

Updating Bus Operator Contracts to include Safety

Caroline Pidgeon: Further to your responses to Questions 2017/3858 and 2017/3859, on 1 February 2016, the Mayor's "world leading" Bus Safety Programme stated that: "over the next three months TfL will be updating their bus contracting system and will develop incentives to encourage an even greater focus on safety."  https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2016/february/mayor-launches-world-leading-bus-safety-program On 10 July 2016 (Question 2016/2455) you stated that changesto contracts had been pushed back to December 2017. On 29 August 2019 TfL announced: "Rigorous fatigue risk management systems will be required for any company to operate London buses under new contracts next year.” Does that mean Londoners will have to wait over four years for TfL to honour a commitment to incorporate safety into Bus Contracts that was supposed to take 3 months in 2016?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) has developed and been using a Safety Performance Index to incentivise operators to improve safety across the bus network since early 2018. This is instead of using contract changes, which would have risked decreasing openness between operators and also decreased the incentive to share best practice and improve safety for the network as a whole. The Safety Performance Index was introduced to operators alongside tougher assurances processes and is now published on the TfL website: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/bus-safety-data#on-this-page-3.
By requiring all bus operators to develop and put in place Fatigue Risk Management Systems by 2020, TfL is also implementing one of the key recommendations of Loughborough University’s research into bus driver fatigue as published on 28 August 2019.
Earlier this year, TfL also brought in the new Bus Safety Standard, which requires operators to lease or buy new buses fitted with new safety technology and featuring safer vehicle design. The first vehicles are starting to appear on London’s streets and increasingly will form a larger part of the fleet as older vehicles make way to new replacements.
These measures are helping to bring us closer to one of our Vision Zero targets of no-one being killed on or by a bus by 2030.

Settled status (3)

Leonie Cooper: Can you break down the number of Londoners that have been granted ‘pre-settled and settled status’ by sector?

The Mayor: The Government’s statistics on the EU Settlement Scheme do not include a breakdown by sector. City Hall has called for more detailed data to be made available to inform local outreach and to ensure that all EEA+ Londoners and their families can access the scheme.
As of 30 June 2019, 340,870 applications have been made to the EU Settlement Scheme in London.
As of 31 August 2019, 1,151,000 applications in the UK have received a decision from the Home Office – 62 per centwere granted settled status, 37 per centwere granted pre-settled status.

Demand for North London Overground Line Between Stratford- Highbury and Islington

Jennette Arnold: What work has been undertaken to understand likely demand for the Overground line between Stratford- Highbury and Islington from 2020-2025?

The Mayor: Transport for London has undertaken a study into demand trends across the London Overground network, including the section between Highbury & Islington and Stratford. This forecast an AM peak hour demand growth of 10 per cent on this section of route between 2020 and 2025.

Operation Midland (6)

Peter Whittle: To ask the Mayor what lessons the Metropolitan Police have learned from the failure of Operation Midland?

The Mayor: Following the conclusion of the Operation Midland investigation, the then Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe commissioned a thorough review by Sir Richard Henriques. Key points from Sir Richard’s highly critical review were published in November 2016.
Sir Bernard also apologised in person to those most affected by the case.
The review has allowed the Met to learn, so that they could improve their handling of similar allegations in the future. Many of Sir Richard’s recommendations have been embedded in police training and practice. The Met will consider carefully any learning recommendations from the IOPC investigation report which is due to be published in September. There will also be an internal debrief in October with Northumbria police force to identify any additional lessons.
Nationally, the police service set up Operation Hydrant to act as an operational centre for advice and expertise when dealing with historical allegations of this nature.

Citizen Integration Initiative Next Steps

Jennette Arnold: How do you plan to take forward the Citizenship Integration Initiative?

The Mayor: The Citizenship and Integration Initiative (CII) has been fundamental to delivering my priorities on social integration. CII promotes active citizenship, civic engagement and secure migration status. Over the past two years City Hall has brought social integration experts into the GLA as secondees to work with policy teams to achieve these aims. The current phase of the CII is due to continue until 2021.
CII is a partnership initiative funded by Trust for London and Unbound Philanthropy among others. We’re currently evaluating learning and discussing the future of the programme with our partners (including charitable and philanthropic funders and civil society).

Direct Vision permits

Caroline Russell: At the end of October, Transport for London (TfL) is set to issue the first HGV Safety Permits as part of the Direct Vision Standard (DVS). How many permits are you expecting to issue, by month, in the first year of the DVS?

The Mayor: For a Direct Vision Standard permit to be issued, the registered keeper or operator of the vehicle must submit an application to Transport for London (TfL). We expect to issue 220,000 permits in the first year, which represents 40 per cent of the total UK fleet.
It is not possible to estimate how many permits will be issued per month as this will depend on how different operators respond to the new requirements.

Workforce Integration Network Update

Jennette Arnold: Please provide an update on the Workforce Integration Network (WIN), launched as part of the Strategy for Social Integration.

The Mayor: The Workforce Integration Network (WIN) is designed to improve employment pathways for underrepresented groups. It is currently focused on supporting young black men aged 16 to 24 into London Living Wage employment in the technology and construction sectors in London.
WIN has delivered successful events including an oversubscribed construction jobs fair, attended by approximately 150 young black men, and built a network of 500 young people to engage in future events.
WIN has also commissioned research to better understand the experiences of young black men in the workplace to inform employer actions, for example through the development of a good practice toolkit. We recently met with 20 key technology sector businesses to share best practice and challenge them to hire more young black men.
Further activity is planned to engage employers and support young black men interested in careers in this sector, including an event with Hackajob later this month.

London Family Fund Recipients Announcement

Jennette Arnold: When will you be announcing the successful recipients of the London Family Fund?

The Mayor: The London Family Fund is one of my flagship projects from the ‘All of Us’ social integration strategy. The fund supports projects that offer parents of young children living in London support and the chance to build meaningful and lasting relationships with each other, no matter their ethnicity, disability, income or social class.
There were 89 applications for year two of the fund. A rigorous selection process chose nine projects for interview. These nine were also assessed by a group of external experts in the social integration and early years sectors for consideration and feedback. Interviews were held in July.
Five projects were chosen to receive funding in year two of the programme. These organisations have been informed. Successful grantees will be announced shortly after full financial due diligence processes have been completed and contracts agreed. The London Family Fund will award a total of £137,551 in grants this year.

Sport Unites and Social Integration

Jennette Arnold: What has Sport Unites achieved so far in improving London’s social integration?

The Mayor: As part of Sport Unites, my £8.8m community sport investment programme, I am funding projects improving social integration across London. These initiatives use physical activity to bring Londoners from different backgrounds together and address social isolation.
This includes the £3.0m ‘London Together’ fund in partnership with Comic Relief. In the first year I have supported 9 projects which are providing opportunities for marginalised groups and promoting equality through sports. I have also supported 11 grassroots initiatives with similar scope through my rolling micro-grant scheme, ‘Stronger Communities’.
A unique aspect of this work is my commitment to support three innovative ‘place-based’ pilot projects in Barking, Haringey, and Hounslow to empower local communities to address social issues in their local area through sport.
I have just commissioned a specialist monitoring and evaluation agency to independently assess the impact of these projects using metrics related to loneliness, social mixing, and neighbourhood cohesion.

Sport Unites and Vulnerable Londoners

Jennette Arnold: How does Sport Unites specifically support the most vulnerable Londoners?

The Mayor: Sport is internationally recognised for its ability to improve wellbeing and positively contribute to solving social problems for example: reducing social isolation, improving social inclusion, putting young people on pathways to employment, and bringing people from different backgrounds together.
Sport Unites incorporates a £3m portion of the Young Londoners Fund, to invest in activities for young people severely at risk of serious youth violence. 43 projects totalling £360,000 were funded this summer to provide sporting activities for these Londoners during the summer holiday. I am also investing £1.1m in experienced organisations providing meaningful employment opportunities and reducing (re)offending rates among young people.
In addition, Sport Unites specifically contributes to reducing health inequalities across London. 160 projects have been supported across Sport Unites, focusing on London’s most deprived communities and vulnerable groups including: 19 projects in Hackney, 12 in Newham, 12 in Haringey, and 18 projects specifically engaging Londoners with disabilities.

Citizen Integration Initiative

Jennette Arnold: How many organisations have so far benefited from the Citizenship Integration Initiative?

The Mayor: The Citizen Integration Initiative (CII) is a partnership between the GLA, philanthropic funders and civil society to pursue shared social integration objectives. To date, seven civil society organisations have received grants from the CII to release nine secondees to work with the GLA.
Two civil society organisations have also received grants to carry out research.

Citizen integration Initiative and Vulnerable Londoners

Jennette Arnold: How are you measuring the success of the Citizenship Integration Initiative in terms of its impact on vulnerable Londoners’ lives?

The Mayor: The Citizenship and Integration Initiative (CII) has an independent learning partner who is evaluating the model and will be publishing a report later this year.
Each of the projects undertaken by civil society secondees to the GLA, has its own targets and measures of success which are reported in the GLA’s performance dashboards.
This includes the EU Londoners Hub which has received 237,000 unique page views since its soft launch in November 2018 and the first round of microgrants (£20k total) which have reached over 5,000 EU Londoners including Roma, homeless Londoners and Londoners with disabilities.
In addition to the specific projects they lead on, the expertise of the CII secondees has been invaluable in shaping the GLA’s response to major external developments such as the Windrush scandal and the Grenfell tragedy.

Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Taskforce

Nicky Gavron: You have launched the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Taskforce, with a commitment to set up at least 5 flagship rapid charging hubs across the capital.
How will you determine the locations for charging Hubs to best fulfil demand?


How will you ensure that the Hubs encourage people to use healthy forms of transport such as walking and cycling?


One of the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan’s guiding principles is that charging infrastructure should maintain accessible and walkable pavements. How will you ensure that boroughs will follow best practise when installing charging infrastructure, to ensure that it does not add to street clutter?
It is likely that there will be new technologies emerging for electric charging. When will you be producing guidance to ensure that Businesses, Boroughs and individuals invest in charging technologies that do not become redundant? Which investors have come forward?


Given the Distribution Grid is approaching 50% of supply and demand capacity, how are you working with Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and energy companies to increase total Grid capacity using renewable sources?


Your Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Delivery Plan is clearly supportive of vehicle to grid charging, although these are at a relatively new stage of development. Can you provide an update on the testing that has already taken place in London, and what steps will you take to accelerate the rollout of V2G charging?”


Would you recommend that Londoners switch to electric vehicles? How will you send clear signals to Londoners about the right choices?

The Mayor: Encouraging sustainable transport
In keeping with my Transport Strategy and the Healthy Streets Approach, my priority will always be to promote a shift away from the car to travel by walking, cycling and public transport. For those who are unable to switch their mode of travel, the Delivery Plan will help make the switch to an electric vehicle simpler.
Charging hubs
Identifying the location of new charging hubs will require finding a balance between a range of factors, including the convenience for drivers, land availability, the commercial viability of developing the site and the potential impacts of hub traffic. Transport for London (TfL) expects hubs to be located close to major routes to ensure sites are easily accessible and consistent with their Healthy Streets Approach.
Grid capacity & charging
As more renewable energy is deployed and forms an even greater share of the total generation capacity, intermittency becomes a bigger risk to balancing supply and demand. To accommodate a greater proportion of renewable generation, electricity network operators, National Grid and energy suppliers are incorporating new technology and designing new commercial arrangements to enable the grid to be much more flexible than it is today.
TfL is working closely with UK Power Networks (UKPN) to plan for the roll out of EVs and to address any specific areas where the local distribution bid could be constrained.
The Delivery Plan is indeed supportive of vehicle to grid charging (V2G), although it is likely to be more relevant to private rather than public charging.
TfL, along with GLA, is a partner in the Innovate UK funded ‘E-Flex’ project, one of several V2G demonstrations, designed to test the early market for bidirectional charging (and discharging) of EVs. This project is in the design phase, including identification of eligible EVs – since the current generation of V2G chargers only work with certain EVs. TfL is investigating where and how some of its support fleet EVs might play a part in E-Flex. If there are eligible vehicles and suitable locations, any demonstration and testing of the technology would take place from the end of Q1 2020 for a year.
Answers to your questions about street design and clutter can be found under Mayor's Question2019/14562.

Football

Fiona Twycross: With the strong performance of the England Women’s Football team in mind, what more can be done to ensure that girls in London have the same opportunities to play football as boys?

The Mayor: Sport Unites, my £8.8m community sport investment programme, strongly commits to providing sporting opportunities to women and girls and promoting gender equality.
I am funding 20 sport and physical activity projects targeting women and girls specifically.
As an example of a football initiative, I fund Active Lewisham Girls Football Project under my Active Londoners fund. This project engages with local schools to encourage 11-year-old girls to be active through their two-stage girls football project. The girls are provided with extracurricular football activities run as a Breakfast club, Lunchtime Club and/or After School Club and culminating in a school tournament. This intervention specifically targets girls who are not currently physically active, also addressing my commitment to reduce health inequalities.

Support for Wheelchair users on the Underground

Jennette Arnold: What plans are there to support wheelchair users on the tube to mind the gap?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) has carried out a substantial amount of work to ensure a robust set of measures and campaigns are in place to keep all customers safe. This includes measures for wheelchair users that address the gap between the train and platform, as follows.
Any new trains or station changes TfL introduces are designed to minimise the step and gap between platform and train. In some places TfL is adding portable ramps that can be positioned by station staff, or building platform humps - permanently raised areas on the platform.
TfL’s online tools allow customers to choose step-free options, and Tube maps are available, which include details on the size of the gap between the train and the platform.
Customers do not have to pre-book assistance to the Tube as TfL operates a turn-up-and-go service. TfL also provides Travel Mentors to help customers increase their confidence using the network.
TfL is improving accessibility on the Tube by making more stations step-free. Currently 78 Tube stations have step-free access and my accessibility programme will take the total number to over 100 by spring 2024.

RE:NEW (2)

Leonie Cooper: Please provide an update on the progress appointing a technical support service to deliver the successor to RE:NEW. What targets will be in place for this service?

The Mayor: Following an open and robust OJEU procurement process, a delivery partner has been appointed to deliver the technical support service for the RE:NEW successor. I will be announcing more on this shortly.
This programme is focussed on new approaches to enabling deep retrofit through smaller scale innovation projects. The programme is currently mobilising. There are two European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) targets for the programme.
The GLA has the following stretching targets, although progress will be assessed against the ERDF targets.

Jubilee Line

David Kurten: To ask the Mayor for the reasons behind the operational failures experienced by the travelling public on the Jubilee Line on both 30th and 31st July 2019?

The Mayor: On the morning of 30 July a faulty train part-suspended the Jubilee line between Green Park and Stratford. Although investigation is still underway, it appears the problem was a fault with the Master Control Switch. This stopped the train contacting the automatic signalling system to move forward, and prevented the driver from automatically opening the doors. Once the three trains behind the faulty train cleared, it was slowly reversed to North Greenwich and placed in the middle platform to allow the service to recover. A faulty Master Control Switch is rare and Transport for London (TfL) is not anticipating further failures of this kind.
On the morning of 31 July a signal failure part-suspended the Jubilee line between Finchley Road and Waterloo. While the failure was rectified before peak service, the effects of the part-suspension were felt by customers during the peak. This was further hampered by a faulty train at Bermondsey during the morning peak, which was removed from service. The line returned to good service at 11:20. TfL sent the faulty components to the manufacturer for testing to see how similar incidents can be prevented in future.

Good Work Standard KPIs

Susan Hall: What KPIs, measurables or targets have you put in place for the Good Work Standard?

The Mayor: My Economic Development team are monitoring the number of businesses who sign up to start their Good Work Standard journey and commit to improving their employment practices over time. They also monitor the number of businesses who achieve the Good Work Standard.
I want as many employers as possible to sign up to the Good Work Standard as I believe this is the benchmark for employment standards that all employers should aim to achieve.
The success of the Good Work Standard will depend on not just how many employers sign up to the initiative and gain accreditation, but also the number of workers and employees within those organisations who will see the benefits of those improved working practices. We will also know the Good Work Standard is a success by monitoring how many employers use the Good Work Standard tools to improve their employment practices and by ensuring we are engaging a range of employers from different sectors and of different sizes.

Night Time Enterprise Zone

Susan Hall: How will the GLA decide on how to allocate the money set aside for the Night Time Enterprise Zone? What will be the scoring system, who will make the decision and how will the spend be monitored?

The Mayor: The decision to allocate the money for the Night Time Enterprise Zone was taken following an assessment process. Applications from boroughs were assessed by a panel of officers from across GLA teams including Culture, Transport, Regeneration, Economic Development and Intelligence who scored proposals against published criteria in the application guidance https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/night_time_enterprise_zone_-_application_pack.docx
Officers gave a score from 1 to 5 against each of the sections below and total score was reached according to the following weighting:
Officers recommended that the highest scoring application should be awarded funding. This recommendation was approved by the Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries.
The grant funding agreement includes deliverables and milestones which GLA officers will monitor the spend against, in line with GLA grant management procedure.

Water Fountains (4)

Susan Hall: Please can you provide all available monitoring data for each water fountain installed so far?

The Mayor: To reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles that Londoners use, I partnered with London Zoo to install 28 free drinking fountains. Over the last 12 months the first 20 fountains dispensed the equivalent to more than 155,000 half litre plastic bottles.
I’m now working in partnership with Thames Water to install over 100 more drinking fountains over three years (2018/19 to 2020/21). All the Thames Water drinking fountains will be fitted with smart meters to keep track of usage. The first usage report will be available later in the autumn.

Fatigue Risk Management System Audits of TfL Surface Transport Operations - Tram Operations Limited (1)

Caroline Pidgeon: In your response to 2019/8819 you stated that "fatigue management monitoring is now reviewed within TfL at Director and Managing Director level on a four-weekly basis” at Tram Operations Limited. When did this four-weekly monitoring cycle begin? Can you provide the initiating memorandum, instruction or terms of reference document which details exactly what is being monitored, and set out how success or failure is measured and some indication of how TOL is performing since this monitoring began?

The Mayor: Fatigue Management indicators have been part of the London Trams Safety Performance Index (SPI) measure since the Sandilands incident. The SPI is the measure reviewed by Transport for London at the four-weekly meetings.
Since fatigue issues have been part of the SPI there has been a reduction in the number of fatigue incidents reported as part of the measure.

Water Fountains (6)

Susan Hall: How many applications have you had for water fountains outside the Thames Water supply area?

The Mayor: To help Londoners ditch single-use plastic bottles and reduce plastic waste, I have entered into a partnership with Thames Water to install a network of over 100 drinking water fountains across London. This will be in addition to the 28 fountains I have already installed with the Zoological Society of London.
In November last year, I invited applications to host a fountain from all Londoners, including London boroughs, other public landowners, private landowners, and leaseholders/managing agents. We received almost 250 applications, which included 31 applications outside the Thames Water supply area.
We have contacted the relevant water suppliers requesting that we enter into a similar partnership to work together to install fountains in their area.

Water Fountains (7)

Susan Hall: It was previously reported that you would be spending £1.7 million on water fountains. This has risen to £2.5 million – why have you increased this budget by £800,000 and where is this extra money coming from?

The Mayor: To help Londoners ditch single-use plastic bottles and reduce plastic waste, in October last year, I announced my £5 million partnership and with Thames Water to install over 100 free public water fountains. Each partner contributed £2.5 million towards the joint £5 million fund. When I entered into my partnership with Thames Water, I agreed to contribute £2.5m to the fund and I have not increased this budget. In addition, Thames Water has agreed to own the assets and fund the long-term maintenance and cleaning of the fountains for at least 25 years. The estimated value of this is £15m over 25 years, based on a cleaning and maintenance cost of £6,000 per fountain per year.
Through Mayoral Decisions MD2360 and MD2415 I approved a £2.5 million budget for the water fountains programme. This included a total capital expenditure of £2.134 million and a total revenue expenditure of £366,000 over three years (2018/19 to 2020/21). Thames Water agreed to match our funding and are also contributing £2.5 million to the fund.

Water Fountains (8)

Susan Hall: What is the maximum number of water fountains that can be installed with the allocated budget?

The Mayor: In my Mayoral Decisions MD2360 and MD2415 I commit to install over 100 public drinking fountains with Thames Water. The £5 million partnership with Thames Water is to run over 3 years until March 2021.
The cost of installing each fountain varies on a site by site basis depending on proximity to a water main, reinstatement requirements, underground obstructions and other local factors. Cost variations will also be caused by unforeseen circumstances, for example, an early excavation uncovered an unmapped gas main. These costs, and the number of fountains, are being kept under review. The average cost of installation will influence how many we are able to install.

Water Fountains (10)

Susan Hall: What is the total number of water fountains you plan to install across London?

The Mayor: To help Londoners ditch single-use plastic bottles and reduce plastic waste, I have installed 28 public drinking fountains with the Zoological Society of London.
I have also entered into a partnership with Thames Water to install a network of over 100 drinking water fountains across London by April 2021.

Next steps to enable breastfeeding on the transport network

Onkar Sahota: In your response to question 2019/14588, you noted welcome steps TfL is taking to make breastfeeding on the transport network easier. Does TfL have any plans to a) run a public awareness campaign to reduce potential stigma around this, and b) provide facilities at stations to enable breastfeeding?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) recently (August 2019) published an updated version of its ‘Travelling in London while pregnant or with a buggy’ leaflet, which is provided when ordering a ‘Baby on Board’ badge. This guidance aims to ensure women feel comfortable to feed their babies on the transport network, whether breastfeeding or bottle feeding. Women are encouraged to ask for a seat if they need to, are informed of benches across the TfL network, and are advised that if they are made to feel uncomfortable they can speak to a member of TfL staff.
TfL has briefed its operational staff to ensure they are prepared to support women wishing to breastfeed on the network. This includes steps to direct customers to feeding areas and suitable locations within London Underground stations, encouraging customers to feel more comfortable using London Underground facilities, and preventing any antisocial behaviour targeted at breastfeeding women.

Improving discharge procedures to cold homes

Onkar Sahota: What work has the GLA conducted with the NHS and other partners to improve hospital discharge procedures and address housing needs and cold homes?

The Mayor: The GLA is working with the NHS through its Fuel Poverty Partnership – a member of which is taking the lead highlighting to clinical leaders and Health and Wellbeing Boards across London approaches and initiatives that help ensure cold homes are identified and improved. These include my Warmer Homes Advice Service, as well as Disabled Facilities Grants.

Building homes on NHS land update (4)

Onkar Sahota: How many homes have been completed on ex-NHS sites since 2016, and how many of those have been affordable?

The Mayor: The Government’s Public Sector Land Programme 2019 Progress Report provides data on sites sold through the previous (2011 – 15) and current (2015 – 20) programmes up to March 2018, for the 90 per centof sites where reliable data is available. This shows that 34 homes have been completed on Department of Health and Social Care sites within London to date. Information on tenure mix is not collected through this Programme. The London Estates Delivery Unit is developing a process to do so in the future.

Building homes on NHS land update (3)

Onkar Sahota: How many ex NHS sites have been given planning permission in London since 2016, and on each site, how many a) market rate homes and b) affordable homes have been given planning permission?

The Mayor: The Government’s Public Sector Land Programme 2019 Progress Report provides data on sites sold through the previous (2011 – 15) and current (2015 – 20) programmes up to March 2018, for the 90 per centof sites where reliable data is available. This shows that planning permission for 1,018 homes was secured on Department of Health and Social Care sites within London since 2016. Information on tenure mix is not collected through this Programme. The London Estates Delivery Unit is developing a process to do so in the future.

LU Train operators (3)

Andrew Boff: For the 2018/19 year can you please break down the number of London Underground train operators or instructor operators with total gross compensation with compensation bands.

The Mayor: Please see my response to Mayor's Question 2019/17443.

Supervised toothbrushing

Onkar Sahota: PHE research indicates that supervised toothbrushing in early years settings is the most cost-effective dental health policy, after water fluoridisation. What steps have you taken to increase the number of early years settings offering supervised toothbrushing?

The Mayor: My Health Inequalities Strategy makes clear that I want partners to take further action on improving child oral health. Through my Healthy Early Years London programme nurseries, children’s centres, schools, playgroups and childminders are given support and guidance to help infants and pre-school children learn about the importance of eating less sugar, brushing their teeth properly, and visiting the dentist regularly.
A HEYL Bronze award is only made if the setting can demonstrate this. We continue to work with over 1370 early years settings in 32 London boroughs, and with my three Early Years Hubs (located in Barnet, Newham, Wandsworth and Merton), to improve oral health, currently reaching over 30,000 children.

Betel nut and shisha

Onkar Sahota: What discussions, if any, has your office had with the NHS and other partners regarding the specific risks of shisha and betel nut use, and steps to improve public awareness of this?

The Mayor: More effective regulation of shisha premises, alongside increasing public awareness of the health risks, needs to be led by local authorities as they are best placed to work with local communities where shisha and betel nut use are most used.
In terms of tobacco, I am supporting the establishment of a London-wide partnership with the NHS, local authorities, Public Health England, and others with the aim of further reducing the harm caused by tobacco in the capital including pan London action to address illegal tobacco.

Water Fountains (11)

Susan Hall: Can you please provide me a copy of the business case for the water fountain project?

The Mayor: Mayoral Decisions MD2360 and MD2415 set out the business case for my Drinking Water Fountains Project.

Free School Meals in no-deal Brexit

Andrew Dismore: How are you supporting London’s schools to provide nutritious food for children receiving free school meals in the event of a no-deal Brexit?

The Mayor: The London Resilience Forum (LRF) continues to look at the short-term implications of no-deal on food supply and distribution, alongside other critical areas. They are working with sector experts including members of the London Food Board to raise relevant concerns and understand how Government will maintain food supply, especially for the most vulnerable communities and children relying on free school meals. In June I put forward a blueprint for the now incumbent Prime Minister to address the huge challenges facing London and the UK.
At present, approximately 200,000 children are eligible for free school meals in London. My Healthy Schools London programme supports over 2,000 schools to provide healthy, nutritious food but schools typically lack the resources or capacity to stockpile food which means they are particularly vulnerable to any disruption.
I believe that a no-deal Brexit must be avoided at all costs. As I’ve said before, the Prime Minster must urgently revoke Article 50 and give the British public the final say.

Information on estate regeneration projects on the GLA website (2)

Sian Berry: Thank you for your answer to my question 2019/8891, and for the quarterly publication of estate ballot exemption decisions and positive ballot votes on the GLA website. Will you also report these decisions in each Mayor's Report to the Assembly, and add to the website information the following: a) a similar list of negative ballot results, b) a similar list of any pending ballots your team are aware of, where I assume all housing providers would be consulting with the GLA in any case, and c) for each exemption decision, the application documents provided by the developers giving the reasons for their application, and the decision letters or documents issued by the GLA?

The Mayor: I will include an update about resident ballots regularly in the Mayor’s Report to the Assembly.
The resident ballot requirement is a funding condition. As a result, GLA investment partners are only required to notify the GLA in the event of a positive ballot in order to claim the grant. The GLA is not formally notified about negative or pending ballots.
Where the GLA approves an exemption, it publishes its decision – including the reason for the exemption – on the following page: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-land/increasing-housing-supply/estate-regeneration-data

MPS Operations and Frontline Policing Cooperation

Andrew Dismore: How are Metropolitan Police Service’s Operations and the Frontline Policing branches working together to tackle aggravated burglaries like the incident which took place in Cricklewood on the 11th May 2019 (https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/former-premier-league-star-punched...)?

The Mayor: I understand that the Met wrote to you about this issue on 3 September 2019.

Silvertown Tunnel (2)

Len Duvall: Can you outline the steps that TfL, working with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, has taken concerning mitigations measures relating to Silvertown Tunnel?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) has been working with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and many other stakeholders, throughout the development of the Silvertown Tunnel to ensure appropriate mitigation measures are considered. The major steps are outlined in TfL’s Monitoring and Mitigation Strategy, which sets out a comprehensive programme of traffic and environmental modelling and monitoring to ensure the scheme delivers against its objectives. This will proceed in close consultation with local authorities, residents and other interested groups, and is now enshrined in the Development Consent Order for the scheme, as a legally binding obligation on TfL.
TfL’s Monitoring & Mitigation Strategy is available here: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wp-content/ipc/uploads/projects/TR010021/TR010021-001726-8.84%20Monitoring%20and%20Mitigation%20Strategy%20R2%20.pdf
Specifically, with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, TfL has also agreed a number of additional local enhancements as part of the scheme, including:
In addition to the above measures TfL has also confirmed that, as part of the scheme, residents in Greenwich, Newham and Tower Hamlets will have access to a local residents discount from the user charge (for those in receipt of certain benefits), £2m concessionary bus travel, and £1m to help small businesses transition to the new charging arrangements.

Road capacity (1)

Len Duvall: My understanding is that road capacity has reduced in London. Is there a TfL calculation of total road capacity in London and can you break this down by year since 2012? Can you then break it down further by borough?

The Mayor: Measuring road capacity and its effective use is a complex issue. Capacity is made up of a number of elements that include how the road space is allocated (footways, bus lanes, etc.), signal timings, most of which respond dynamically to competing demands and change throughout any given day and vehicle volume mix and associated occupancy. There is no simple way to define ‘base’ network capacity that can measure all of these facets in a coherent framework.
Incidents and other events on the network cause road space and capacity to be temporarily reduced, which Transport for London’s (TfL’s) Network Management Control Centre mitigates through coordination with on street and emergency services and adjusting signal timings. Any changes in capacity in one part of the road network can adjust the available capacity in other parts of the network at the same time. These dynamic properties make measurement of road capacity very difficult.

Silvertown Tunnel (1)

Len Duvall: What is the latest position in lettings contracts concerning Silvertown Tunnel?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) has selected the Riverlinx consortium as its Preferred Bidder to design, build, finance and maintain the Silvertown Tunnel. The Reserve Bidder, Silver Thames Connect (STC), has subsequently submitted a legal challenge to the outcome of the procurement process.
The commencement of court proceedings by STC automatically resulted in a legal suspension of TfL’s right to award the contract to Riverlinx this summer as planned.
TfL is currently preparing a response to STC’s claim and will be looking to award the contract and begin construction on this vitally important project for London as soon as possible.

London Living Wage in the Premier League (1)

Leonie Cooper: Can you update me on your progress with encouraging Premier League London clubs to pay the London Living Wage?

The Mayor: I am pleased that as of the start of the season, Crystal Palace FC became the third of London’s five current Premier League clubs to gain accreditation, following a meeting I held with the club chairman at which he agreed to do so.They follow West Ham United who gained accreditation last year, and Chelsea.
Premier League football clubs have a key role as ‘anchor institutions’ within their communities and across London as a whole, and I believe they have a duty to lead the way and pay all of their staff the London Living Wage. It cannot be right that in sporting organisations in which top professionals earn millions of pounds a year, there may be staff getting paid less than they need to afford a decent standard of living. I urge both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur to do the right thing and work with the Living Wage Foundation to secure accreditation.

Road capacity (2)

Len Duvall: Since 2012, how much road space in London has been allocated to:
a) bus lanes
b) cycle lanes
c) road works
d) pavements
e) other schemes
Can you break these figures down by borough?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) does not have accurate measurements of the allocation of road space for all of the components in the question. The measurement of static road space alone does not enable a full understanding of effective road capacity, see the answer to Mayor's Question2019/17657.
Space used by road works is difficult to calculate because there is no mandatory requirement on promoters of roadworks to provide information on the footprint of the works, which would indicate the total amount of road space their works would take up.

Bakerloo Line extension and upgrade

Len Duvall: Please can the Mayor update me on the position on the Bakerloo Line extension and upgrade, including both the latest on the financing of the project as well as the site works?

The Mayor: I remain committed to progressing an upgrade to and extension of the Bakerloo line. Following the previous public consultation in spring 2017, Transport for London (TfL) has been working with stakeholders, including the London Boroughs of Southwark and Lewisham to develop the scheme. This includes its design and how it could be funded and if necessary, financed.
Different funding options continue to be investigated and the solution would be confirmed prior to the submission of a Transport & Works Act Order application. The ongoing design work also includes developing plans for how the extension could be constructed including the land required for worksites. These proposals will be included as part of the next public consultation on the Bakerloo line extension which is planned to be carried out later this autumn.

Victims rights of review

Susan Hall: For each of the years September 16 to August 17, September 17 to August 18 and September 18 to August 19 how many victim right of reviews have been initiated for the following:
• In total
• Rape
• Other Sexual Offences
• Homicide

The Mayor: The requested data from the MPS is set out in the table below. The MPS received no requests to initiate a Victims’ Right of Review (VRR) for homicide over the requested timescales.
Offence
Sept 2016 - Aug 2017
Sept 2017 - Aug 2018
Sept 2018 - Aug 2019
Rape
32
12
109
Other Sexual
6
4
17
Other
1
0
4
Total
39
16
130
This does not include any VRRs initiated directly with the CPS. Some additional data is available on the CPS website. This is not included here because:

Stop and search guidelines (2)

Sian Berry: Do Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) procedures, training or officer guidelines for the deployment of stop and search ask police officers to attempt to engage with or obtain information from members of the public as witnesses before searching them as potential suspects?

The Mayor: Officers are encouraged to speak to the public prior to a search whenever possible to either confirm or dispel their suspicions. The response may well negate the need for a search to be conducted. Stop and search should be intelligence led and proportionate meaning that where grounds exist the police should always conduct a search, because of this treating every member of public as a witness is not always practical. The Metropolitan Police Service’s guidelines take this into account so do require officers to approach searches in this way. Officers are, however, required to follow the MPS’ stop and search Quality Encounter Model so that every encounter is conducted in a professional and respectful way ensuring that intelligence can be gathered from each interaction.

London Leaseholders

Tom Copley: Do you know how many leaseholders in London are retired or unemployed? What help do they receive in paying their housing costs if they are in receipt of Universal Credit or Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance?

The Mayor: The GLA does not hold any information on the number of leaseholders in London who are retired or unemployed.
Some leaseholders may receive some financial assistance through the benefits system, but the amount would depend on the circumstances of each individual or household and the GLA does not hold any information on the total or average amount received.

Black Taxi Fleet Size

David Kurten: What was the size of London’s black cab taxi fleet on 1st May 2000, 1st May 2004, 1st May 2008, 1st May 2012, 1st May 2016, 1st May 2017, 1st May 2018, and 1st May 2019?

The Mayor: Transport for London holds this information according to each of its financial years which end on 31 March each year.
Transport for London financial year
Number of licensed taxis
1999/2000
20,260
2003/2004
20,701
2007/2008
21,792
2011/2012
23,099
2015/2016
22,500
2016/2017
21,300
2017/2018
21,026
2018/2019
20,136
2019/2020
19,135 (As of 1 September 2019)

Legal advice for Londoners with insecure immigration status

Jennette Arnold: The funding of legal advice for Londoners with insecure immigration status is most welcome. Please explain how this will be rolled out and how many Londoners it will support.

The Mayor: The legal advice sector has been hit hard by cuts to legal aid and there is now a very real risk that Londoners could find themselves unable to navigate an extremely costly, complex and hostile process in order to secure their immigration status.
City Hall is working with partners including civil society and philanthropic funders to support the advice sector and prevent injustices like Windrush from happening again. This builds on work that City Hall has already done to support young Londoners with insecure immigration status, and European Londoners facing uncertainty about their status after Brexit.
I have committed more than £300k to address injustice faced by people in the immigration system resulting from lack of access to legal advice. My officers are now working with partners to make sure that this funding has maximum impact, and further details will be announced in the coming months.

Police Uniform

Peter Whittle: In recent months, on a number of occasions, I have observed police officers in public, who were not wearing the headgear that is part of their official uniform. To all intents and purposes, they looked like supermarket or building site security officers. It was my understanding that police officers wear a uniform for the purpose of identifying themselves to the general public and thus commanding a degree of respect. Could you please explain to me how, why and when this policy was changed?

The Mayor: There has been no change to the policy line managers continue to monitor compliance concerning dress and uniform.
The current policy in respect of headwear and has been in existence for some years, which is as follows:

Impact of Central London Bus Review on North London Overground Line

Jennette Arnold: What assessment has been made of the impact of the Central London Bus Review’s recommendations upon the London Overground running between Stratford and Highbury and Islington given that withdrawal of the 48 route is likely to lead to an increase in Overground users on this route?

The Mayor: Transport for London does not forecast a material change in demand on London Overground between Stratford and Highbury & Islington as a result of the withdrawal of route 48. All passengers who currently travel between Walthamstow Central and Hackney / Shoreditch using route 48 will continue to be able to do so from October using route 55, which operates at a higher frequency than route 48. TfL is also increasing the frequency on route 26, which covers a substantial portion of the same route as route 48.
There has been a 25 per cent reduction in usage of route 48 since 2014, while there has been a 50 per cent increase in entries to the Victoria line at Walthamstow Central following its upgrade and one-third increase in frequency. There has also been a 46 per cent increase in passenger numbers at London Overground stations such as Clapton, Hackney Downs and Cambridge Heath.
Passengers using London Overground services on the North London Line will of course benefit from a more frequent peak service of 10 trains per hour from December 2019.

Right to Buy Ring Fence Offer

Tom Copley: How many Boroughs have signed up to the Right to Buy receipts Ring Fence offer, and how much money has been returned to each borough to date?

The Mayor: So far 17 local authorities have opted in to the GLA’s Right to Buy Ringfence Offer. Under this offer money is not returned directly to boroughs – it is held by the GLA until councils decide to draw down funding from their ringfence balance.

Disposal of former fire stations in London

Caroline Pidgeon: Please provide an update on the current ownership status of all fire stations in London that were disposed of between 2012 to 2016.

The Mayor: Current ownership of the former fire stations is set out below:
Premises
Current Ownership
Belsize Fire Station
Vulcan Properties
Bow Fire Station
Mulberry School for Girls
Downham Fire Station
Hollybrook (Downham) Ltd
Kingsland Fire Station
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Knightsbridge Fire Station
Lease surrendered to landlord – Carraig Investments *1
Silvertown Fire Station
Oasis Community Learning
Southwark Fire Station
Urbanwise DevelopmentsLtd
Westminster Fire Station
Westminster Fire Station Ltd
Woolwich Fire Station
Homeland Property Ltd
Old Mitcham Fire Station*2
Parkside Property Ltd
West Norwood Fire Station*2
V Fund Ltd
*1 Knightsbridge Fire Station was a lease surrender rather than a sale.
*2 The former Fire Stations at Old Mitcham and West Norwood were sold and rebuilt in nearby locations under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) programme.

Tube Driver Wages

David Kurten: To ask the Mayor what is the average wage of a driver of a tube train on the London Underground?

The Mayor: The average basic salary of a Train Operator in 2018/19 was £52,792.65.
The average total remuneration of a Train Operator in 2018/19 was £64,133.94. This includes basic salary, overtime payments, allowances and employer pension contributions.

Role of HSE Director

Keith Prince: Given the deaths and serous injuries which have resulted from TfL’s well-evidenced failure to manage fatigue across its Tram and Bus Operations, what is the role of TfL’s HSE Director? Do you think it is fit-for-purpose?

The Mayor: No death or serious injury on London’s road network is either inevitable or acceptable. That’s why I am committed to eliminating deaths and serious injuries on London’s transport network through my Vision Zero approach.
I do not agree that Transport for London (TfL) has failed to manage fatigue properly. TfL is working with both tram and bus operators to tackle the causes of fatigue. For example, TfL will be making £500,000 available to help bus operators establish the most effective interventions to reduce fatigue and next year will make rigorous fatigue risk management systems a requirement for any company to operate London buses under new contracts. TfL’s tram operator, Tram Operations Limited (TOL), has made significant improvements to its management of fatigue, including new shift patterns and better work-life balance for drivers, and has shared this with the wider tram industry.
TfL’s Director of Health, Safety & Environment has helped to transform the way it delivers public transport services, enabling TfL to become one of the safest rail operations in the world. To continue this improvement and even more firmly embed safety and sustainability at the heart of how TfL works, the Transport Commissioner has recently announced the appointment of a Chief Safety, Health and Environment Officer. This new role will lead a holistic approach to safety across the whole organisation, helping TfL to reach our shared ambition of no person killed on London’s transport network by 2041.

Stand time for bus drivers

Caroline Pidgeon: In the interests of passenger safety what steps does TfL take to ensure bus contractors fully implement a proper amount of stand time for bus drivers to allow bus drivers to carry out such tasks as checking for lost property, changing destination blinds and other tasks, and critically allowing bus drivers to stretch their legs as part of bus shifts?

The Mayor: There are safeguards in place to help ensure drivers have enough time to conduct checks and stretch their legs. When a driver completes one leg of their route and comes onto a stand or terminus, the operator will schedule enough time for them to conduct the necessary checks. If a one-off disruption erodes all the buffer time, the driver and service controller will work out the best course of action under the circumstances.
Services are specified by Transport for London (TfL) and operators schedule them in relation to prevailing traffic conditions, with adaptations made if conditions such as traffic alter over time. TfL also checks services are robust and driver hours are not excessive through contract compliance audits.

Water Fountains (12)

Susan Hall: You stated that Thames Water will be maintaining the water fountains for a minimum of 25 years. Will the cost of this maintenance come from their £2.5 million match funding or will this be funded separately?

The Mayor: Thames Water have committed to own, clean and maintain the fountains for at least 25 years. This will be funded directly by Thames Water in addition to their £2.5m contribution to our combined £5m partnership. The estimated value of this is £15m over 25 years.

London Plan Density (2)

Steve O'Connell: Further to your response to question 2019/8973, the second paragraph of your response states: “My draft London Plan explicitly recognises that the appropriate density of a site is an output of a process of assessment, rather than an input.”
Policy D6 at D States:
The following measurements of density should be provided for all planning applications that include new residential units:
1) number of units per hectare
2) number of habitable rooms per hectare
3) number or bedrooms per hectare
4) number of bedspaces per hectare.
Policy D6 does not define the process by which to analyse these parameters to define an acceptable Housing or Residential Density.
If the assessment of a proposal to define the appropriate density of a development site is an output of a process, how exactly should those input parameters, listed above at 1 through 4 of that process, be analysed and by what methodology to provide an output figure to define the appropriate density and what are the individual weighting factors?

The Mayor: Density measurements are an output of a proposed development design not an input parameter to dictate the feasible number of units. The value of these density measurements is that together they provide a more meaningful numeric comparison between different developments, and between a proposed development and the surrounding area, than is provided by a single density measurement. Requiring these measurements in the London Plan helps ensure this data is collected across London for all relevant developments and thus can be used to inform future reviews of the London Plan.
My officers in the London Plan team would be happy to meet with you to discuss the draft London Plan’s approach to density with you in more detail.

Electric Scooters

Florence Eshalomi: How many people have been stopped by the police for riding an electric scooter on the road or pavement in London in each of the last 3 financial years?

The Mayor: The MPS does not hold data on how many people officers stop for riding an electric scooter. Over the last couple of months the MPS and TfL have been concentrating on educating scooter riders about the legislation and dangers but the MPS does not record all the interactions.

Electric scooters (1)

Caroline Pidgeon: Do you agree with the recent comment made by TfL’s Commissioner and reported by the Evening Standard that it is “inevitable” electric scooters will one day become legal on public roads?

The Mayor: In March this year, the Government announced a regulatory review of micro-mobility vehicles when it published its “Future of Mobility – Urban Strategy”. I cannot pre-judge the outcome of that review, but the strategy talks positively about welcoming new innovative types of transport. If the Government does legalise the use of e-scooters on public roads, I will be urging it to put safety at the core of its approach.

Boxing Day services on the London Overground.

Caroline Pidgeon: I understand that Southern is planning to run a Boxing Day service from Brighton to Victoria. To maximise network coverage and meet the Boxing Day demand, will you ensure that London Overground provides a service from Clapham Junction to Stratford via Shepherd’s Bush and West Croydon to Highbury & Islington via Canada Water?

The Mayor: Please see my response to Mayor’s Question Mayor's Question 2019/11970.
Boxing Day services on the London Overground will be subject to planned engineering work and Transport for London is currently finalising the details with Network Rail and Arriva Rail London. I have asked them to provide you with this information once finalised.

Canal Boat Charging Points

Unmesh Desai: Residents have complained to me that the emissions from idling canal boats adjacent to their homes are impacting upon their daily lives. I am aware you have encouraged boroughs to seek funding to address such issues through the air quality fund. Please could you advise how many boroughs have accessed funding for the installation of tow path charging points and what else you are doing to tackle this issue?

The Mayor: I know that emissions from canal boats can be a significant issue in some parts of London. Whilst I do not have powers to restrict their emissions I am keen to address this issue and I am lobbying government to devolve powers to a London regulator.
The Canal and River Trust and Islington council have accessed funding from Defra to deliver an eco-mooring zone enabling boaters to reduce their reliance on using their engines for energy, with plans for the site to go live in October 2019. This is the only borough to access funding that I am aware of.
To help play my part in tackling this issue, my London Environment Strategy commits me to working with organisations to find achievable solutions to enable canal boats residents to power their homes more cleanly. My Draft New London Plan includes a requirement for consideration of on-shore power at wharves and residential moorings. Boroughs are also able to bid for future Mayor’s Air Quality Fund rounds for shoreside power programmes where appropriate.

Metropolitan Police Forensics (1)

Susan Hall: Can you please provide a list of all external forensics companies that the MPS outsources work to and provide details of these contracts (price, duration and service)?

The Mayor: The MPS uses a number of companies for forensic services. The companies listed in the tablebelow includes companies contracted with the MPS directly providing forensic services only.
It should be noted that some suppliers who are providing Business Continuity Disaster Recovery services are not under final contract. At present they are operating under MPS standard purchasing terms, this will be amended to reflect a series of more robust terms and conditions relevant to the services they are providing. This activity is currently in progress with governance following the formulation of the contracts.
The BCDR contracts were necessary due to emergency arrangements for forensic services due to the Eurofins cyber-attack in June 2019. The Suppliers were identified for the MPS to use via the National Gold Group (through NPCC).
Supplier
Orchid Cellmark Ltd
£2,400,000
Up to 1 year
24/06/2020
BCDR Forensic Services (use partly covered under EFS contract).
Forensic Pathology Services
£900,000
1 Year (MOU annually extended)
31/03/2020
Provision Of Forensic Pathology Services
Key Forensic Services Ltd
£500,000
Up to 1 year
25/06/2020
BCDR Forensic Services
Mass Consultants Ltd
£21,590,000
7 years + 3 years
23/04/2024
Digital Forensics Managed Services
Analytical Services International Ltd
£100,000
Up to 1 year
16/07/2020
BCDR Forensic Services - Toxicology

Eurofins (4)

Susan Hall: Can you please confirm whether there is a conflict of interest with a police investigation into the Eurofins hack?

The Mayor: The National Cyber Crime Unit within the National Crime Agency (NCA) are undertaking the investigation and it is appropriate for them to do so.
There is no conflict of interest.

Eurofins (2)

Susan Hall: How many Metropolitan Police forensics investigations have been outsourced to Eurofins since May 2016?

The Mayor: MPS has outsourced forensic services to Eurofins Forensic Services (formerly LGC Forensic Services) under a managed service agreement since Feb 2017. Eurofins predominantly provide analytical services for MPS, e.g. DNA profiling, drugs and toxicology analysis (including suspected Road Traffic offences), analysis of marks and trace evidence (glass, paint, footwear etc.) and specialist niche forensic services (fire investigation, entomology, anthropology etc.)
The data available to the MPS is counted in ‘submissions’. There may be multiple forensic submissions associated with one investigation, and one investigation may require submissions across numerous evidence types, therefore the number of investigations will be lower than the number of submissions. The MPS IT system records submission data against investigations, therefore we are unable to answer the question, howeversince the start of the contract MPS has made the following volume of submissions over the last three years:
Data prior to Feb 2017 would require sourcing from several historic contracts and due to the timescales for response, this information is not able to be provided.

Eurofins (1)

Susan Hall: Can you please confirm that no Metropolitan Police data was compromised in the Eurofins cyber-attack?

The Mayor: In order for Eurofins to recommence work and to understand the impact, if any, of the ransomware on their case information and records, Eurofins carried out a range of systems and data audits. They also carried out full User Acceptance Testing and method verification before recommencing work for all processes that involve interaction with IT systems.
The data audits and the method verification activities were subject to oversight by the Forensic Science Regulator’s office and all plans were submitted to United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
All of the data audits confirmed the integrity of data and records including MPS data held by EFS.
In addition, UKAS carried out a specific assessment of Eurofins BCDR response and recovery actions across two days in July and included their Information Security Technical Assessor as part of the inspection team. Eurofins maintained their accreditations for all of their methods.

Cricket World Cup Advertising

Susan Hall: Could you provide details of the cost of advertising the ‘London is Open’ campaign during the recent Cricket World Cup – including on-field, broadcast and written formats?

The Mayor: London hosted 10 games during the 2019 Cricket World Cup, including England's historic final victory against New Zealand at Lord's.
At all of the London matches, a 'London is Open' message was shown on-field, on screens and advertising hoardings around the ground, and in the matchday programme. The GLA did not pay for this, or for any other form of advertising during the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
When working with major sports organisations, the GLA seeks opportunities to promote London as a major sports hub as part of our working partnership.

Silkstream flooding [3]

Andrew Dismore: Some constituents have raised concerns that intense development around Colindale may have contributed to the flooding problems due to surface runoff. Have you conducted an assessment of this issue around Colindale?

The Mayor: Flood risk in the Silk Stream catchment is caused by a combination of river flooding and surface water flooding. The Environment Agency are working with Barnet on the Silk Stream carrying out an assessment of flood risk in Colindale. This includes reviewing both river and surface water flooding interaction and a range of measures to resolve this (see Mayor’s Questions 2019/17624 and 2019/17625).
Through my London Plan I require new development to achieve as close to greenfield run off rates as possible, through avoiding excessive hard surfacing and delivering green infrastructure that slows rainwater run-off. This policy aims to reduce the risk of local surface water flooding.
Barnet’s Surface Water Management Strategy for the Colindale area reported that the increased predominance of paving over front (and back) gardens is contributing to flood risk issues in the area. The recently launched third round of Community Green Space grants (see Mayor’s Question 2019/17626) offers opportunities for communities to receive funding to tackle local surface water flooding through green space projects.

GLA Funded Open Market homes

Tom Copley: Following my question 2019/14462 regarding the 1,802, 2,462 and 1,150 “open market” homes funded by the GLA in the past three years, could you tell me how many of them were for private market sale, broken down by tenure (freehold, share of freehold, leasehold, commonhold)?

The Mayor: The GLA does not collect information on the tenure types of open market homes.

Metropolitan Police Files to Crown Prosecution Service

Unmesh Desai: A newspaper report in the Times found that in May 2019, 37% of files sent to the Crown Prosecution Service were sent back to the Metropolitan Police Service (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trials-delayed-as-police-files-arrive...). How are the Metropolitan Police Service and Crown Prosecution Service working to ensure fewer files are not accepted?

The Mayor: It’s important to continue to drive up performance, despite the 23.6 per centreduction of case files being returned to the Met by the CPS from June 2018 to May 2019. Partnership working remains key. The Met has established a Case Management Team dedicated to reviewing and addressing file quality, identifying key issues and capturing improvement via a joint MPS/CPS action plan. The Met has revised procedural guidance to help officers and held development events to improve investigator file quality skills. A strategic leadership group chaired by an Assistant Commissioner considers file quality issues. Both agencies are committed to improving this further by exploring how these changes become culturally embedded and performance reviewed.

Energy Leap

Leonie Cooper: Please provide an update on the Energy Leap pilot. What interventions have been installed and in how many homes so far?

The Mayor: Housing and solution providers have been selected through robust grant and procurement processes. Tenants have been engaged and properties selected. The solution provider (Engie) is in the process of developing the design.
The energy efficiency measures installed will be determined through the design process to meet my Energy Leap near net zero energy performance standard.
The interventions are anticipated to be offsite manufactured, integrated modules. Including highly insulated new solar roofs; super insulated facades with integrated windows and doors; heat pumps and communications to monitoring and verification equipment installed within the home – allowing comfort levels and real-life energy performance to be verified against a performance guarantee provided by the solution provider.

Education

Fiona Twycross: Does London need a new London Challenge programme to give our young people the best start in life?

The Mayor: My latest London Education Report shows London schools continue to be among the highest performers and our pupils’ GCSE results are the best in the country. This is despite many children in the city facing profound hardships, and levels of child poverty being amongst the highest in the UK. Our London schools are doing well, yet there is always scope to improve by schools working better together and with the third sector to improve the prospects of the most vulnerable young Londoners. One of the problems of education in England is fragmentation and the lack of oversight from councils. Whilst I do not have formal oversight powers, City Hall is well-placed to support many of London’s schools through maintaining a regional overview, helping collaboration, and offering specific programmes and opportunities.
I am disappointed that school improvement funding has been redirected away from London. It is crucial that London gets a fair share of the Government’s newly announced schools funding.

Metropolitan Police Contracts (3)

Susan Hall: Do Premier Workplace services have an exclusive contract for workplace change services with the Metropolitan Police?

The Mayor: Premier’s contract does not guarantee ‘exclusivity’ for the delivery of furniture relocation services in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).
Premier is the single relocation services contractor appointed by the MPS in 2017 following an OJEU restricted procurement in accordance with PCR15. Premier’s contract was let on a five-year term commencing 1st June 2018.

Reports of the wrong concrete used at Bond Street Crossrail station

Caroline Pidgeon: The Daily Express reported on the 18 April 2019 that the wrong type of concrete was used at Bond Street Crossrail station. Was this report correct and if so what actions have been taken to ensure the contractors are held financially responsible for such actions?

The Mayor: It is correct that one ready mix load of concrete poured at Bond Street Crossrail station in June 2012 was the wrong specification. A non-conformance was identified and the concrete was replaced with the correct approved concrete mix.
In line with the contractual arrangements used by the Crossrail project, the standard practice is that when a contractor raises a non-conformance, and it is accepted, the cost of correction is split 50:50 between the contractor and Crossrail Ltd.

Community Assessors for recruitment of police constables

Caroline Pidgeon: Are you satisfied with the quality of work undertaken by the current agency that is carrying out first stage assessments for candidates seeking to become police constables?

The Mayor: The Met has provided MOPAC with assurance about the quality of Community Assessors and this has been scrutinised in regular bilaterals with the Deputy Mayor.
There is a robust selection process in place and each assessor is trained fully in the role. In addition, there is a quality assurance processes in place during the assessment centre which includes a fiveday induction plan of which 100 per centobservation is conducted by Quality Assurance assessors. The Met applies the standards as set by the College of Policing where assessors must achieve a minimum rating to meet the required standard for performing their allocated role.
The Met also provides refresher training for Community Assessors to familiarise themselves with any updated assessment scenarios, using assessment materials, training videos and discussion on scenario based assessments ensuring scoring is in accordance with the policing standards.

Use of sections 77 and 78 of the Building Act 1984

Andrew Dismore: At FREP committee on 18 July, use of s77 and s78 of the Building Act 1984 was suggested as a route for local authorities to force recalcitrant building owners to take action on flammable cladding. What discussions has the GLA and LFB had with local authorities, the Health and Safety Executive, and other relevant bodies, on this matter?

The Mayor: The Government has set up the Joint Inspection Team (JIT) to provide support to local authorities to use their enforcement powers where the building owner is reluctant to remediate. My team continue to engage with London Boroughs and support their work where possible, but it is not the GLA’s role to advise other bodies on enforcement.
London Fire Brigade has made representations to Government to stress the urgency in getting this matter resolved and for consideration to be made of additional measures that could be introduced to support the removal of unsafe cladding systems.

Simultaneous evacuations (2)

Andrew Dismore: How many dwellings are contained in buildings in London that have interim simultaneous evacuation procedures in place at the present time, and in each year since the Grenfell Tower fire? Please break this down by private sector and social sector and by borough.

The Mayor: The readily available data held by London Fire Brigade (LFB) for premises that have temporarily moved to a simultaneous evacuation strategy does not capture the number of individual dwellings in each building. Individual premises files provide further detailed information to inform the work of LFB officers, but this is not in a readily-reportable format.

Availability of environmental health officers

Andrew Dismore: What is the average time taken between the brigade contacting a local authority Environmental Health Officer regarding concerns over a building, and the consequent investigation visit being carried out?

The Mayor: Response times for Environmental Health Officers are a matter for individual Local Authorities and not something that London Fire Brigade records.

Audits of building fire safety

Andrew Dismore: At FREP committee on 18 July, LFB stated they were carrying out in-depth audits of building safety on a sample of cases from recent years. Of the cases so far examined, how many reach a) a good / high standard, and b) a poor / inadequate standard?

The Mayor: The in-depth audit of fire engineered buildings carried out by London Fire Brigade (LFB) involved a review of 20 buildings and took a qualitative approach, considering systems from smoke control to the management of the building. Only one building could be considered to reach a high standard that would be meet the expected good management of active and passive fire protection measures – for example, having no apparent issues with compartmentation and having working detection and smoke control systems – coupled with good management of the building by the Responsible Person.
Individual buildings highlighted different issues of concern. For example, significant active fire protection measures issues were noted in 12 out of the 20 buildings with smoke control systems, whereas 13 out of 20 had issues relating to the building management. All issues identified were communicated to the Responsible Person so that they could be dealt with, and their resolution was monitored by the engineer who undertook the review.

Buildings judged unsafe

Andrew Dismore: At FREP committee on 18 July 2019, the committee was told: “Over two years ago we [LFB] provided recommendations around the design of that building that was unsafe and we would not support the development. The development has nonetheless gone ahead”. In how many cases in each year from 2016 to the present has this happened?

The Mayor: Examples of this type are not routinely captured by London Fire Brigade (LFB). While it is a legal requirement for a building control body to issue the fire and rescue service with a final/completion certificate for a building, at present this is not reconciled with the LFB premises file. This process is currently being reviewed.
The expectation has been that the concerns and observations of LFB would be actioned and supported by building control officers, who have responsibility for assessing compliance with building regulations, but there is currently no process for reconciling significant differences in opinion on building control consultations, nor any requirement to act on fire and rescue service advice.
The recent anecdotal evidence of the LFB Fire Engineering Group when dealing with complex building schemes is that there has been an increase in building control bodies that appear to not be acting on Brigade advice and recommendations. LFB has highlighted this issue in its responses to Government consultations and called for this situation to change.

Home Ownership

Tom Copley: Please list all the London boroughs and all London Parliamentary constituencies to show the total number of households who are private tenants, local authority tenants, outright owner-occupiers and the number of leaseholders and supply the same information on a London-wide basis.

The Mayor: The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government publishes statistics on the number of dwellings by tenure at a regional and local authority level. The data is split between local authority, private Registered Provider, other public sector and private sector. The statistics can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
The Office for National Statistics publishes a Research Output that provides an estimate of the number of owner occupied and privately rented dwellings at a regional and local authority level. The Research Output can be found at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/articles/researchoutputssubnationaldwellingstockbytenureestimatesengland2012to2015/2012to2017
Data on the tenure breakdown of dwellings is not available at parliamentary constituency level.
Please see Mayor’s Question 2019/9190 for information on the number of leaseholders in London.

Burglaries in Camden

Andrew Dismore: How are Met Operations and the Central north BCU working to tackle aggravated burglaries like the incident which took place in Cricklewood on the 11th May 2019 (https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/former-premier-league-star-punched...)?

The Mayor: I understand that the Met wrote to you about this issue on 3 September 2019.

Toilet facilities at West Ham station

Caroline Russell: A constituent has raised concerns about the lack of toilet facilities at West Ham station. When will Transport for London (TfL) complete its London-wide review of toilet facilities and will the final conclusions be publicly shared?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) is auditing London Underground toilet facilities to get a complete understanding of the condition of the facilities and any antisocial behaviour issues. TfL is also investigating a number of proposals looking at the quality and location of facilities, how best to deal with antisocial and criminal behaviour, as well as the requirement for toilet provision for disabled customers. TfL will be sharing its progress with the London Assembly in the autumn. Once concluded, TfL will be informing customers of its plans.

Peer outreach and Oyster cards

Caroline Russell: It has been suggested that the need for members of your Peer Outreach Team to pay for work travel costs up-front represents a barrier to working in the team. Will you further support their valuable work by providing members of the team with a pre-loaded Oyster Card for work trips, or enabling one to be linked to a GLA payment card, to help with these expenses?

The Mayor: I really value the great work that my Peer Outreach Team do for me. Their work is vital in delivering my commitment to ensuring young Londoners’ voices and experiences are heard and help to shape policy. Only last month I spent time with them and other young people that they had brought together to assess the latest bids for funding to my Young Londoners Fund.
Members of the team are paid at the London Living Wage of £10.55 per hour whilst also being provided with training opportunities throughout the year. I will now be providing pre-loaded Oyster cards for Peer Outreach Team member’s work-related travel costs.

Dedicated Ward Officers

Caroline Pidgeon: For every London Borough, please provide the current numbers of Dedicated Ward Officers in each ward. Please provide this data so that it is possible to check the number of DWOs in any given ward.

The Mayor: The following public link provides the number of DWOs in each ward in London:https://www.met.police.uk/sd/stats-and-data/met/workforce-data-report/

Future bus services in London

Caroline Pidgeon: Following the decision to trial the closure of back doors on the New Routemaster bus will you review past decisions relating to London’s bus fleet, including the use of bendy buses, especially serving the Uxbridge Road.

The Mayor: There will not be a review of past decisions as articulated buses stopped operating some years ago and there are no current plans to re-introduce them. The design and make-up of the fleet can change, however, to reflect the requirements and expectations of customers.

Extension of the Santander cycle hire scheme

Caroline Pidgeon: On the 30th August 2019 you tweeted: “For the first time London’s record-breaking Santander Cycles bike hire scheme will be expanded to Bermondsey and Rotherhithe”. Please state (1) the proposed timetable of the rollout of the cycle hire scheme in these areas, (2) the estimated number of docking stations and bicycles that will be included in this expansion, and (3) what are the funding proposals for the expansion of the cycle hire scheme.

The Mayor: It is planned that 5 docking stations (approximately 125 docking points) will be constructed along Cycleway 4 as part of the infrastructure build of that route.
Dates for installation have yet to be agreed with Southwark and are subject to agreeing specific locations with the borough and obtaining planning consents. Conversations on this are ongoing. The stations will be funded by Transport for London as part of the Healthy Streets funding portfolio.

TfL Compliance Officers

Susan Hall: Can you provide the most up-to-date number of TfL’s taxi and private hire compliance officers?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) currently has 194 authorised officers in post dedicated to taxi and private hire.
As mentioned in my response to Mayor's Question2019/6401, TfL has recently closed a consultation with its Compliance, Policing and On-Street Service Directorate (CPOS) operational staff on proposals for organisational change, which includes Taxi and Private Hire Compliance Officers. The new structure will provide up to 420 multi-skilled on-street officers to support activities to improve compliance standards. TfL will use intelligence-led deployment to ensure there are sufficient resources to support a more effective taxi and private hire compliance operation, and to have the flexibility to respond to operational demands as needed.

Cup and Balls Scammers 2

Susan Hall: How many people have been arrested after scamming people on Westminster Bridge through the infamous "three cup trick" scam? Please give an annual breakdown since 2008/09?

The Mayor: There have been one hundred and twenty-five charges for gambling offences across the City of Westminster between 01/01/2018 and 01/08/2019. The MPS are not able to provide data on this back to 2008/2009. Central West BCU have an ongoing partnership with Westminster City Council, Safer Transport Command and Area South BCU to arrest and disrupt Illegal Street gambling on Westminster Bridge. Local community policing teams carry out regular patrols and where offenders are found to be foreign nationals we will link in with the Home Office as part of Op Missouri to deport them from the UK. We remind the public that these games are a con, and it is impossible for them to win.

Delays in public release of Loughborough University Study of Bus Driver Fatigue

Keith Prince: The Report released on 29 September 2019 (http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-driver-fatigue-report.pdf) was dated May 2019. Why did TfL delay by 3 months the release of this report to the public?

The Mayor: The report was published on Transport for London’s website on 28 August 2019, in line with the commitment to share the full contents with the public in the summer. As the research was substantial and involved parties including the bus operators and Unite the Union, it was necessary to share it with them in advance of publication, in order to consider what actions could be taken together to address the recommendations.

Future Plans for Capacity Needs of North London Overground Line

Jennette Arnold: What plans are in place to ensure that the Overground between Stratford- Highbury and Islington is able to meet the capacity needs of Hackney both now and in the future?

The Mayor: Peak frequencies on the route between Stratford and Highbury and Islington will increase from eight to ten trains per hour for the December 2019 timetable change. This 25 per cent increase in capacity is expected to address current crowding issues on the route. While Transport for London currently has no further funded plans to increase capacity over this section of route, it has started to review potential options for any future capacity increases that might be required to meet future demand. The potential ideas include train lengthening and/or further increases to train service frequency.

Tripartite Meeting Minutes

Keith Prince: Please provide me with copies of all Tripartite Meeting Minutes which have taken place after April 2018.

The Mayor: I have asked Transport for London to provide these to you directly.

Sandilands Incident Review Board and Fatigue Audit IA 17 780

Keith Prince: Did the Sandilands Incident Review Board receive and review a copy of IA 17 780 Fatigue Audit of First Group Tram Operations Limited before 15 September 2017?

The Mayor: The meeting on 11 September 2017 was informed that the Internal Audit report into the management of fatigue at Tram Operations Limited was being finalised. The draft report was not received or reviewed by the Sandilands Review Group.

Private Renting Voter Registration (2)

Tom Copley: Your recent analysis about private renters and voter registration is timely and important. It also highlights how frequently private renters have to move in London. Not having a stable address can sometimes make it harder to get ID. Is there also a concern that the Government current Voter ID pilots and future proposals may make it harder still for London’s private renters to have their voices heard?

The Mayor: Asking voters to bring ID to the polls is the latest barrier to democratic engagement. At a time when British democracy is in crisis, we should encourage and facilitate participation in the democratic system.
Figures from the Electoral Commission show there were just 28 allegations of impersonation out of nearly 45 million votes in 2017 – that is 0.000063%. Only one of these allegations resulted in a conviction.
Voter ID trials are trying to solve an issue that does not exist, but as we saw during the 2018 and 2019 local election ID trials, they are in fact denying vulnerable electors their vote.
I support calls from civil society organisations and the Electoral Commission to reconsider the voter ID roll out. We should instead look at reforming our democratic system and expanding the franchise, so all Londoners have a voice in choosing their leaders and representatives.

Tube Noise in Properties

Tony Devenish: What assessment has TfL of the number of properties having to cope with Tube noise higher than 35 decibels during the night? Please give a breakdown by year since May 2008, Tube Line and borough.

The Mayor: In November 2015, prior to the launch of Night Tube in 2016, Transport for London (TfL) put in place a new system for recording Tube noise complaints, to ensure complaints were measured accurately.
Previous records of Tube noise complaints included some instances of duplication and complaints that were not related to the day-to-day running of the Tube network. To ensure accuracy and consistency, figures have been provided from November 2015 onwards.
Please find attached a table which shows all complaints since November 2015, where noise measurements have recorded a level higher than 35 dB. While there are no legal limits on the amount of noise or vibration than can be emitted from trains operating on existing railways, TfL handles each complaint on a case-by-case basis, and carries out any practical action to address concerns.
This list is not exhaustive, as noise measurements are not carried out at every property with a noise and vibration complaint. This may be because readings have already been carried out at a number of nearby properties, or because it has not been possible to arrange reading visits with the resident.

Private Renting Voter Registration (1)

Tom Copley: Following your recent analysis that private renters are less likely to be registered to vote in London, what steps can you take to work with London Boroughs to drive up registration ahead of elections in London next May and a possible General Election at any moment?

The Mayor: I believe civic participation is a key pillar of social integration, which is why the GLA is working with partners on a pilot to reduce inequalities in voter registration among young people, in particular.
London has one of the lowest voter registration rates across UK regions and nations. Young people, who are more likely to be recent home movers, private renters and from a BAME background, are some of the most under-registered groups.
The pilot project will focus on a range of activity during London Voter Registration Week (LVRW, 16 – 22 September) to raise awareness of voter registration.
The GLA is delivering the pilot with the London Voter Registration Strategic Partnership, made up of representatives from the Electoral Commission, London Councils, borough electoral services, education institutions and youth organisations. I am pleased that LVRW also has the support of the London Assembly and a broad civil society coalition.

Community Contact Sessions

Unmesh Desai: What role has MOPAC had in overseeing the roll-out of Community Contact Sessions as outlined in MOPAC and the Metropolitan Police Service’s Public Access Strategy and what is MOPAC’s assessment of the way Community Contact Sessions are working?

The Mayor: MOPAC are developing a Public Access dashboard which will include information on the delivery of Community Contact Sessions, and the issue of their effectiveness is currently under review at the joint MPS/MOPAC Public Engagement Board. The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime also has regular meetings with the Assistant Commissioner responsible for frontline policing, Mark Simmons, where discussions include public access and community engagement.
Every community is different, and MOPAC does not prescribe when, where and how frequently these Sessions should take place, beyond the commitment that local officers should hold at least one session in each ward per week.
Safer neighbourhood boards and ward panels can take a light-touch approach to overseeing the implementation of these sessions as detailed in the SNB funding guidance provided by MOPAC.

Museum of London Memories Scheme

Joanne McCartney: Can you update me on the progress of your Memories Scheme at the Museum of London? How many Londoners have engaged with the programme to date?

The Mayor: Memories of London promotes the wellbeing of people living with dementia by bringing the Museum of London’s unique collection and stories into care homes, dementia cafes and day centres. Through exploring objects and participating in other creative activities like music, storytelling, art, craft, dance and drama, people living with dementia can connect and reminisce.
Loneliness and isolation can be a significant issue for people living with dementia and these sessions can prompt valuable conversations about home life, neighbourhoods and community, work and family memories as dementia progresses. Since October 2018, the Museum has delivered sessions with 360 people including people living with dementia, their family and carers.
Since June 2019, the Museum has delivered two dementia-friendly tours of their galleries and exhibitions per month for people in early stage dementia, carers and family members. Around 100 of the Museum staff including front of house, directors and the leadership team have been trained as Dementia Friends.

Intent Prediction technology

Florence Eshalomi: What plans, if any, does TfL have to testIntent Prediction technologyon the London Bus Network?

The Mayor: There are already two systems being taken forward following successful bids to Transport for London’s (TfL’s) Bus Safety Innovation Challenge (2019).
The first is Humanising Autonomy, which looks at the behaviour of vulnerable road users and alerts the driver to potential risks that might require intervention. It may be possible to link this to advanced emergency braking in future years so that the vehicle acts independently and stops itself from hitting a person or vehicle.
The second is the Fusion Processing system, which takes digital images from the vehicle’s Camera Monitoring System (camera monitors instead of traditional wing mirrors) and highlights the presence of vulnerable road users to the driver to assist decision making. It may also be possible to link this to advanced emergency braking so that the vehicle stops autonomously to avert a collision or reduce the severity of an injury.

Access for All mid-tier funding programme

Florence Eshalomi: Will TfL be making an application to the 2019Access for All mid-tier funding programme? If so, what stations will you be applying on behalf of?

The Mayor: Yes, Transport for London (TfL) will be making an application to this programme and is currently examining potential schemes at stations across London. These include the provision of step-free access, making toilet facilities accessible and improvements to waiting rooms. The deadline for submission is in October, and TfL would be happy to share the final outcomes once it has completed its analysis.

How Safe Are You on Britain’s Main Road Networks?

Florence Eshalomi: The “How Safe Are You on Britain’s Main Road Networks?” report says thatTfL is examining how to best capture risk across their network. Can you update me on this work surrounding capturing risk?

The Mayor: Achieving my Vision Zero commitment means taking a new approach to tackling road danger. Transport for London (TfL) has commissioned research to develop an innovative method for identifying and measuring street characteristics that lead to increased road danger. The product of the work will be a tool that indicates locations of road danger based on characteristics of London’s streets, rather than simply the number of casualties.
This will enable TfL and London boroughs to proactively tackle danger before collisions occur, and to transform streets where road danger discourages people from travelling by foot, cycle and public transport. This project is due to complete before the end of 2019, before being disseminated for use by TfL and London boroughs.

Adult Literacy in London

Joanne McCartney: What plans do you have to enable adults in London to improve their literacy skills?

The Mayor: Supporting more adults in London to gain good literacy skills is a key priority in my Skills for Londoners Strategy.
Through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), all Londoners aged 19+ can take fully-funded English qualifications, up to and including Level 2. Additionally, many English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses delivered through the AEB are focused on improving adult literacy.
I recently launched the £6.4m Skills for Londoners Innovation Fund to support projects that meet my priorities for skills and training in London, including improving basic English and maths skills, particularly where it supports job progression.
I am also using the European Social Fund 2019-23 programme to pilot innovative approaches to supporting more adults in low-paid work in key sectors to overcome the barriers to participating and completing basic English and maths courses delivered through the AEB. I will also be commissioning research into these barriers which will inform apackage of wraparound support for AEB learners.

Control Risks (1)

Florence Eshalomi: When was TfL first made aware thatControl Riskswas being employed by Crossrail?

The Mayor: The appointment of Control Risks was a business decision taken solely by Crossrail Ltd. as part of their security planning between 2010 and 2013. TfL was neither involved with nor informed of this appointment.

Silvertown Tunnel (1)

Caroline Pidgeon: One of the arguments used by proponents of the Silvertown road tunnel is that it will allow new bus routes to be established across the Thames. However British Pathé film coverage of the opening of the second Blackwall tunnel by Desmond Plummer in 1967 prominently shows double decker buses running through the Blackwall tunnel. What are the actual restrictions that currently prevent far more bus routes operating across the current Blackwall tunnels?

The Mayor: The current issues of severe congestion, poor reliability and a lack of resilience at the Blackwall Tunnel are the fundamental restriction on running new/improved bus routes across the Thames in east London. This means the current single decker 108 bus service is the least reliable service in Newham and Greenwich. The Silvertown Tunnel, with associated user charging and new cross river bus connections, is the best solution to these issues.
Further, the Blackwall tunnel has inherent design limitations which restrict the types of vehicles that can use it. When the second Blackwall Tunnel opened in 1967, it operated a contraflow which allowed traffic in both directions. This meant that double decker buses could operate. While this might have been the case in 1967, the removal of the contraflow, along with height restrictions, width restrictions, tight highway alignments, modern vehicle designs and tunnel safety standards mean it is no longer possible to safely operate double-decker buses through the Blackwall tunnels.

Cycle Superhighway 9 is no more in Hammersmith & Fulham

Tony Arbour: Given that Hammersmith & Fulham Council has made clear that 'Cycle Superhighway 9 is no more in Hammersmith & Fulham', will you scrap plans for it in Chiswick and instead work with local Councillors and residents to create a fundamentally new proposal that delivers real improvements for cyclists and pedestrians in Hounslow?

The Mayor: My Walking and Cycling Commissioner and Transport for London are working very closely with London Borough Hammersmith & Fulham. This partnership includes the provision of funding to explore how best to improve cycling facilities alongside the A4 and to support both mine and the borough’s ambitions for a Healthy Streets Approach to King Street – meaning the objectives of the scheme are wider than just cycling.
Proposals to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians in this part of London are the result of extensive consultation and engagement. This significant investment will form the backbone of a planned network of walking and cycling routes which will connect communities across the boroughs of Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham, including Chiswick. I am delighted that on 3 September 2019, Hounslow Council approved the progression of the scheme, and I’m looking forward to seeing these much-needed walking and cycling improvements in west London.

Notification and Investigation of Major Incidents (NIMI) by Incident Type (1)

Caroline Pidgeon: Please show the total number of Notification and Investigation of Major Incidents (NIMI) of the London Bus Network submitted by bus operators in 2018 broken down by incident type (i.e., fatality, major injury) and cause of incident (“collision” “fall” etc.)

The Mayor: Of the 144 Notification and Investigation of Major Incidents (NIMIs) that were reported by bus operators to Transport for London in 2018, 19 were fatal and 125 were major. Of the 19 fatalities, five of these have been confirmed as being due to a medical episode, rather than as a result of the operation of the bus, and four are believed to have been medical but are under further investigation.
The main cause of NIMIs in 2018 was due to collisions with pedestrians, which caused 36 NIMIs. The breakdown for this information can be found in the attached information associated with this question.
The NIMI procedure is a systematic approach to identifying and sharing lessons from the most serious incidents on the bus network. Bus operators also have their own procedures for investigating incidents which do not fall under the NIMI process, and these are reviewed by TfL as part of the Bus Assurance Programme whereby TfL visits every bus operator quarterly to review their safety management systems. TfL also monitors all reported collisions, injuries and deaths on the bus network, and publishes a wide range of safety data on its website.

Shared Living

Tony Devenish: How many units of shared living do you predicate in each year in London 2020-24 re London Plan policy H18?

The Mayor: Policy H18 does not predict numbers of shared living units. Large-scaled purpose-built shared living (LSPBSL) is a relatively new housing product and Policy H18 provides a framework for the assessment of LSPBSL development proposals to ensure that if they are developed, they support the delivery of Good Growth.

High Street Cycle Tracks

Tony Arbour: Will you provide any examples of UK high streets that have a two-way cycle track with cycle priority over multiple side road junctions?

The Mayor: It is becoming increasingly commonplace to provide two-way cycle tracks across the UK. In London, two-way cycle tracks are already employed across a range of settings on or near high streets. The recent Cycle Superhighway 2 extension for example passes through Stratford Town Centre, and there are several locations on Great Eastern Road where two-way cycle tracks pass across priority junctions. Cycle Superhighway 6 on Blackfriars Road – a street with relatively high commercial activity – includes a two-way track over multiple side roads, continuing further north onto New Bridge Street.
Outside London, there are a number of locations where a segregated two-way cycle track has been introduced within a busy high street setting: Baldwin Street in Bristol, where maintaining general traffic capacity was a scheme requirement; and Sauchiehall Street Avenue, one of Glasgow’s city centre streets, which now features a fully segregated two-way cycle track.
There is a growing recognition that in order to provide a high-quality cycle network, routes should continue through city centres, not simply end as soon as they reach the high street. In Edinburgh, the Roseburn to Leith Walk route is set for construction later this year with large sections of the route passing through the centre and including two-way cycle tracks over consecutive side roads. Other routes planned for London including Cycleway 4 and Cycleway 9, echo this approach.
These examples show there is a growing appetite for two-way cycle tracks where motor traffic capacity is to be maintained and segregated cycling facilities are needed.

Emails and Communication between TfL Executives about Fatigue Audit IA 17780 sent between 19 May 2017 and 7 July 2017

Caroline Pidgeon: Further to the documents yousent me fromQuestion 2019/12001, you did not provide any emails betweenTfL Executives about Fatigue Audit IA 17780 sentbetween 19 May 2017 and 7 July 2017. Please provide these.

The Mayor: I have asked Transport for London to provide you with this information.

Memories Schemes

Joanne McCartney: How are you encouraging other organisations to set up Memories schemes? This follows the good work of the Sporting Memories Foundation and the “Brand Memories” programme at the Museum of Brands.

The Mayor: Memories schemes and the use of written and oral life histories to improve well-being is a well-established treatment in dementia care and is increasingly used by museums and arts organisations. Programmes like ‘Brand Memories’ use objects and images to stimulate long-term memories and trigger short-term ones. I support similar programmes within the Museum of London, for example recent ‘Memories of London’ tours. In addition, the GLA, the Alzheimer’s Society and the Museum of London have created a new forum to promote and develop more dementia friendly programmes. Called the London Arts and Culture Dementia Network, this forum brings together cultural organisations including English National Ballet, the Royal Albert Hall and Kew Gardens as well as organisations in film, dance, heritage and art. The network was set up in February 2019, meets regularly and acts as a strategic body influencing policy making whilst promoting a dementia friendly London.

Smell at Kennington Tube Station

Caroline Pidgeon: In mid-August there were extensive social and other media reports about a strong and unpleasant smell at Kennington London Underground station. Has TfL completed its investigation into the these reports and what actions have been taken?

The Mayor: Yes, Transport for London (TfL) has completed its investigation following these reports.
The smell is the result of ground water leaking into the tunnel, and mixing with stone which had previously been contaminated with sewage. The sewage contamination is now being actively managed, and whilst the smell is unpleasant, tests have shown that there is nothing hazardous in the air.
In order to mitigate the impact of the smell in the short-term, TfL has cleared standing water, and arranged for the area to be regularly treated with detergent.
TfL will also improve the drainage in this area, with this work expected to be completed by autumn this year. Contaminated rail ballast in this area will also be replaced. This work is currently out for tender, and further information on expected timescales will be available once a contractor has been appointed.

Child Exploitation (1)

Caroline Pidgeon: In July 2019 The Children’s Society published their report ‘Counting Lives: responding to children who are criminally exploited’, which focussed on Child Criminal Exploitation through the county lines drug dealing networks.
In light of their findings that a majority of local authorities across the country do not have a strategy in place to tackle this form of exploitation, and most police forces are unable to identify how many children in their area are affected by it, what action are you taking to ensure that across London children and young people who are groomed to take part in county lines drug dealing are identified and appropriately safeguarded?

The Mayor: In 2018, MOPAC funding supported the launch of the first pan-London county lines response service; an investment of £3million over 3 years. In addition to providing support to young people exploited by county lines, Rescue and Response (R&R) aims to improve understanding of this exploitation. R&R has a partnership co-ordinator for each quadrant of London who has built links with police and local authorities. A borough profile was circulated to each local authority earlier this year to inform them of the intelligence picture, and R&R analysts have recently completed the first strategic assessment of county lines across London.
Policing is a key aspect of safeguarding, and the MPS adopted a partnership approach through the formation of the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC). Rescue and Response links in with the NCLCC to inform the regional understanding of county lines. The MPS continues to work closely with local authorities to identify emerging trends and consider indicators of CCE. The MPS ensure that welfare checks for missing persons are conducted jointly with Children’s workers, and proactively look for signs of county lines involvement. The Met is also committed to targeting those responsible for exploitation and bringing them to justice to stop the cycle of exploitation.

Externally funded police officers

Keith Prince: Each of the following organisations fund Met police officer posts. Please can you explain for each, what is the purpose of the funding and how this operates?
• Hammersons (Brent Cross) Ltd
• South London and Maudsley NHS Trust
• Kings Cross Estate
• ANSCO Ltd (O2)
• Westfield Europe Ltd (Hammersmith)
• Brunel University
• Westfield Stratford Ltd
• Poplar HARCA
• IQL Estate Management Company Ltd (Olympic Park)
• Stratford Village Development Partnership (Olympic Park)
• Bazalgette Tunnel Ltd (Tideway)
• Asdas Stores Ltd (Leyton Mills Retail Park)
• Payments Administration Ltd (UK Finance)
• Transport for London
Relates to MQ 2018/5417

The Mayor: All of the organisations listed request additional policing services over and above the level they would normally receive under the MPS’s core policing responsibilities.

Control Risks (2)

Florence Eshalomi: When was TfL first made aware that Control Risks were reporting to Crossrail on the activities of Trade Unionists, some of whom were seeking to fight blacklisting at the company?

The Mayor: Crossrail Ltd. appointed Control Risks between 2010 and 2013. TfL was neither involved with nor informed of this appointment.

Right to Buy receipts

Tom Copley: How much Right to Buy receipts have been returned to the GLA from the Government in each year since 2012?

The Mayor: The table below shows the Right to Buy receipts returned to the Government by London Boroughs broken down by financial year.
Financial year
Amount
2012-13
£891,822
2013-14
£2,768,155
2014-15
£7,590,487
2015-16
£28,929,645
2016-17
£11,919,257
2017-18
£1,483,574
2018-19
£43,393,673
Total
£96,976,613

TfL Tracking (2)

Gareth Bacon: Can you detail any advice you and/or TfL have sought or received (including but not limited to from the ICO) regarding the data protection implications of this tracking?

The Mayor: Compliance with data protection requirements has been central to the design of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) collection of Wi-Fi data. Engagement began with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in 2014. To ensure their approach to the collection of Wi-Fi connection data was appropriate, TfL completed two data protection impact assessments (DPIAs), one for the pilot which was held in 2016, and a new assessment before continuous collection began in July 2019. TfL shared the DPIAs with the ICO and met with them to further discuss.
TfL commissioned qualitative customer research on attitudes to use of this data, the results of which were shared with the ICO and fed back into the design of the data collection process. TfL also consulted published ICO guidance, specifically Wi-Fi location analytics guidance, in the design of Wi-Fi data collection processes. In addition, a number of privacy campaign groups were invited to discuss the pilot. The Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, commended TfL’s approach to the pilot at a hearing of the Oversight Committee in September 2017.
TfL will continue to keep the latest DPIA under review and will consult with the ICO and others on any future related work where appropriate.

TfL Tracking (3)

Gareth Bacon: How has the fact that their mobile phones will now be tracked on the Underground network been conveyed to passengers, given they do not seemingly have the opportunity to opt out of it?

The Mayor: Customers can opt-out of Wi-Fi data collection by turning off Wi-Fi on their device, turning the device off, or putting the device in airplane mode while using the transport network. Transport for London (TfL) has communicated extensively with customers about Wi-Fi data collection. TfL has put up signs at every station explaining the Wi-Fi data collection that is taking place and how to opt-out. There is detailed information on TfL’s website. There was also a full public communications initiative with a press release issued before the launch of data collection, press interviews given, and audio announcements made at stations.

TfL Tracking (4)

Gareth Bacon: How confident are you that the methods being used to encrypt passenger data obtained through this tracking are sufficiently secure?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) takes customer privacy very seriously. A range of policies, processes and technical measures are in place to control and safeguard access to, and use of, Wi-Fi connection data. Each media access control (MAC) address recorded when a device initiates a probing request is automatically de-personalised and encrypted to prevent the identification of the original MAC address and associated device.

Bus route to North Middlesex Hospital

Joanne McCartney: Further to MQ 2019/9271, can you update me on your plans to improve bus links to North Middlesex University Hospital?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) continues to work with the London Borough of Enfield to improve local bus routes to North Middlesex Hospital. Later this autumn, TfL will consult on proposals to extend route W10 to the hospital and, as part of this, is proposing to increase the route’s hours of operation.
In addition, TfL continues to work with the hospital to re-route the 491 bus service through the grounds of the hospital, which will improve journey and reliability times. The hospital has appointed a contractor for the required works, and is currently working with TfL to finalise a date for implementation.

London Living Wage in the Premier League (2)

Leonie Cooper: How can you encourage the remaining two London Premier League clubs, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, to become London Living Wage accredited?

The Mayor: Arsenal and Spurs are not only top football clubs, but high-profile employers and ‘anchor institutions’ in London. I believe they have a duty to lead by example and demonstrate that they are paying all of their staff fairly by securing accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation. I have written to both clubs previously urging them to do so and will do again.
This is a ‘win-win’ situation: they can improve staff recruitment, retention and productivity, while helping us to promote the London Living Wage across the city.

Food supply

Andrew Dismore: What contingency plans are in place to ensure Londoners have access to adequate and nutritious food in the event on a no-deal Brexit?

The Mayor: The impact of any disruption remains difficult to determine, depending on factors including industry reaction and policy, UK and EU member state policy and, importantly, public behaviour.Just-in-time food supply chains are complex and have evolved over decades with access to free trade agreements across Europe.
The London Resilience Forum (LRF) continues to look at the short-term implications of no-deal on food supply and distribution, alongside other critical areas. They are exploring this with the London Food Board and its retail and hospitality sector representatives, working to understand how Government will maintain continuity of food supply.
The LRF has raised its concerns with Government about the unacceptable risks on food supply for vulnerable Londoners. In June I put forward a blueprint for the now incumbent Prime Minister to address the huge challenges facing London and the UK.
I believe that a no-deal Brexit must be avoided at all costs. As I’ve said before, the Prime Minster must urgently revoke Article 50 and give the British public the final say.

Threat of Closure of Walk-In Centres in Harrow

Navin Shah: Due to financial pressures faced by Harrow CCG it has already closed Alexandra Avenue walk-in service and plans to further close Pinn and Belmont walk-in centres. Will you join us in our efforts asking government to stop planned closures of the two walk-in centres by the local CCG and re-open the Alexandra walk-in centre?

The Mayor: My powers in relation to the NHS are limited, however I will use every opportunity to champion and challenge our NHS. Londoners should be able to access high quality health and care services when and where they need them. It is important to prioritise primary and community care so that people can be treated as close to home as possible. I will ask officers to raise the issue of the closure of these walk in centres with the office of the London Regional Director.

Vitality of Retail and High Streets:

Navin Shah: Is London facing ‘retail apocalypse’? How can the steep decline in High Street stores be stopped? What measures you have put in place to revive high streets?

The Mayor: Business rates, growth in online shopping and high rents are creating a ‘perfect storm’ of difficult trading conditions for ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers.
Protecting our high streets and the retail sector is vital, which is why I continue to campaign for the full devolution of business rates, so we can safeguard the high-street businesses and retail sector jobs that so many depend on. I have also invested tens of millions of pounds in regenerating London’s high streets including via my Good Growth Fund, and we’ll be publishing new research later this year on Adaptive Strategies for High Streets. This makes the case for investment in London’s high streets and outlines how many are diversifying their offer.
My draft London Plantakes a strong ‘town centres first’ approach, focusing commercial development in town centres, with employment, entertainment, retail and other commercial uses helping to attract customers to a vibrant mix of businesses.
I welcome Government proposals for an online sales tax aimed at levelling the playing field and providing support for struggling retailers. However, this should be part of a wider package of reforms aimed at supporting the High Street.

The Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD)

Fiona Twycross: The Government failed to spend its share of the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). Should the Government devolve London’s share of this funding to the LEAP to ensure that the money is spent helping the most deprived Londoners?

The Mayor: It is disappointing to hear that the Government has yet to utilise its share of this €3.8bn European Union-wide fund, intended to provide food and/or basic material assistance to the most deprived, together with social inclusion measures to help people out of poverty.
I understand that an original programme to support school breakfast clubs was not taken forward. A new potential UK programme that would support young refugees and potential victims of modern slavery now awaits approval by the EU.
I would welcome the opportunity to utilise London’s share of this funding, if approved; and/or the opportunity to bring forward other ideas.

Oak processionary moth (1)

Fiona Twycross: Do you have projections for the anticipated growth in the extent of infestation by the oak processionary moth in London over the next year or so both in relation to the areas affected and the number of nests?

The Mayor: Oak processionary moth continues to spread across London, although the major infestations still occur mainly in south-west London. My officers have been informed by colleagues at the Forestry Commission that the level of infestation varies each year depending on the effectiveness of direct control activity (e.g. spraying or nest removal) and natural events such as the weather conditions during the moth flight period in late summer and the emergence of caterpillars in spring.
The Forestry Commission has advised land-owners to control infestations where public health risks are high (when nests are found close to schools, for example) and provide information about avoiding contact with the nests and caterpillars where the risk to public health is lower. Most people will suffer only a minor symptoms if they come into contact with caterpillar hairs.

Oak processionary moth (2)

Fiona Twycross: Do you have figures for the numbers of people who have suffered an adverse reaction to the moth in London? Are you concerned about the public health impact of the moth?

The Mayor: There is limited reliable data on the number of people affected by oak processionary moth (OPM) as it is known to be under reported because usually the reaction to contact with nests or caterpillars is minor.
Around 50 instances have been reported to Forestry Commission this year which is higher than in previous years. The majority of these were within London and relate mostly to people who have come into contact with OPM nests or caterpillars when undertaking work on infested trees or dealing directly with controlling the infestation.
An assessment undertaken by Public Health England indicates that the risk to public health is low as the “majority of people who are exposed experience no health effects and of those who do, the most common effects are self-limiting dermal symptoms which can be treated with over-the-counter remedies.”

Residential Property Sales

Tom Copley: Please show the latest information that shows the total number of residential property sales for freehold properties and separately show the total number of leasehold sales by Parliamentary constituencies, by London borough and on a London-wide basis. Please show the number of leasehold sales as a percentage of the total number of residential sales.

The Mayor: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes statistics on the number of leasehold and freehold residential property sales at a regional and local authority level. The statistics include sales of all residential property types including detached houses, semi-detached houses, terraced houses and flats/maisonettes. The statistics can be found at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/datasets/residentialpropertysalesforenglandandwaleslocalauthorities
The table below shows the number of freehold and leasehold residential property sales in London in 2018 (source: Office for National Statistics). The ONS estimates that 56% of residential property sales in London in 2018 were leasehold transactions and 44% were freehold transactions.
Data on the number of freehold and leasehold residential property sales is not available at parliamentary constituency level.
Local authority
Freehold sales
Leasehold sales
Total sales
Leasehold as % total
Camden
284
1,467
1,751
84%
Barking and Dagenham
1,207
578
1,785
32%
Barnet
1,647
2,011
3,658
55%
Bexley
2,173
762
2,935
26%
Brent
666
1,129
1,795
63%
Bromley
2,919
1,573
4,492
35%
City of London
0
355
355
100%
Croydon
2,428
1,550
3,978
39%
Ealing
1,228
1,376
2,604
53%
Enfield
1,458
888
2,346
38%
Greenwich
1,236
2,096
3,332
63%
Hackney
317
1,611
1,928
84%
Hammersmith and Fulham
487
1,627
2,114
77%
Haringey
721
1,197
1,918
62%
Harrow
1,144
924
2,068
45%
Havering
2,524
855
3,379
25%
Hillingdon
1,760
1,056
2,816
38%
Hounslow
1,071
1,090
2,161
50%
Islington
296
1,407
1,703
83%
Kensington and Chelsea
305
990
1,295
76%
Kingston upon Thames
1,176
828
2,004
41%
Lambeth
728
2,508
3,236
78%
Lewisham
1,244
1,961
3,205
61%
Merton
1,308
875
2,183
40%
Newham
837
2,065
2,902
71%
Redbridge
1,520
804
2,324
35%
Richmond upon Thames
1,547
1,025
2,572
40%
Southwark
635
2,819
3,454
82%
Sutton
1,650
936
2,586
36%
Tower Hamlets
179
2,810
2,989
94%
Waltham Forest
1,438
1,260
2,698
47%
Wandsworth
1,367
3,183
4,550
70%
Westminster
193
1,836
2,029
90%
Total
37,693
47,452
85,145
56%

Dental charges (1)

Fiona Twycross: Dental charges can cost too much for many Londoners. Whilst there is a NHS Low Income Scheme (LIS), however the eligibility requirements are not clear on their website. Will you write to the NHS to ask them to be clearer on the eligibility for Londoners on low incomes?

The Mayor: Child oral health in an important part of my Health Inequalities Strategy, and we know that access to dental services and oral health are issues that affect some of the capital’s poorest communities. I will therefore ask my officers to approach the NHS to discuss how the information on the NHS Low Income Scheme (LIS) is made as clear and easy to find as possible.

Dental charges (2)

Fiona Twycross: Would the GLA consider implementing a dental care loan for employeesrequiring dental work in band 3, or those requiring work from a private dentist, to improve Londoners dental health?

The Mayor: I am committed to the health and wellbeing of all staff and the GLA offers interest-free loans to employees in a number of categories including for bicycles, childcare fees, gym membership, season tickets, and tenancy deposits. I have recently added a loan for costs associated with applying for British citizenship, leave to remain or EU settled status.
While we are not currently considering further loan categories, we are part way through a ‘root and branch’ review of all Human Resources policies.This is a 12 month programme and pay and benefits are scheduled for review from November to March, during which time we can consider further loan categories such as dental treatment.

Dental charges (3)

Fiona Twycross: Will you discuss with the British Dental Association and the NHS how we can support Londoners on low incomes to afford to pay for dental treatment?

The Mayor: I will ask my officers to approach the NHS to discuss this issue.

Commonhold (1)

Tom Copley: One of the hinderances to the use of Commonhold tenure is an unwillingness of lenders and others involved in the housebuilding sector to introduce it. Using your funding power and strategic partnerships with housing associations – who build many private sale homes – could you support a commonhold pilot programme in London that would engage lenders and other professionals to demonstrate that the tenure can work successfully?

The Mayor: I would support a move toward commonhold ownership and I welcomed the Law Commission’s proposals for reform. My Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development, James Murray, responded to the Law Commission on my behalf and made clear I was willing to work with Government to help remove barriers to take up of commonhold. Following successful reform, I am open to exploring how the GLA can use its range of powers and resources support further take-up in London, including pilot programmes.

Wheelchair accessible dwellings (1)

Tom Copley: Policy D5 in your new draft London Plan states that 10% of all new homes built in London should be “wheelchair user dwellings”. What proportion of new homes built in the London in each of the past five years have been wheelchair user dwellings, broken down by London Borough if possible?

The Mayor: The London Plan Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) collates data on the proportion of dwellings which meet the relevant policy requirements for wheelchair user dwellings. This data is provided for the last five published AMRs, broken down by borough in ‘MQ 2019/17582 wheelchair user dwellings Table 1’.
AMRs can be viewed at:
https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/implementing-london-plan/monitoring-london-plan
Table 1. AMR data on wheelchair user dwellings by % of dwellings
AMR No.
AMR 9
AMR 10
AMR 11
AMR 12
AMR 13
Time period
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
01/04/15- 30/09/15
01/10/15- 31/03/16
Dwellings
all new dwellings
all new dwellings
all new dwellings
all new dwellings
all new dwellings
new build dwellings
Borough
Barking and Dagenham
10.9
15.8
8.0
3.5
8.6
11.8
Barnet
2.4
2.6
5.6
3.9
8.5
9.7
Bexley
9.3
6.3
14.1
15.1
13.2
3.8
Brent
8.8
12.2
13.6
4.7
1.4
1.9
Bromley
4.3
2.4
1.1
2.3
3.7
8.5
Camden
11.5
8.6
5.4
6.3
10.7
6.6
City of London
11.1
1.8
8.1
8.8
8.4
- (no new build)
Croydon
8.0
11.5
7.2
6.3
5.8
7.9
Ealing
6.5
7.8
9.0
7.2
7.8
9.3
Enfield
9.8
10.9
8.7
5.6
10.3
6.4
Greenwich
10.4
9.9
10.0
9.4
9.5
9.8
Hackney
10.2
10.7
8.5
11.2
3.5
6.3
Hammersmith and Fulham
7.0
7.6
9.4
8.2
5.3
0.0
Harringey
2.1
6.1
1.7
9.6
2.6
3.6
Harrow
9.5
4.5
8.0
7.9
11.7
12.5
Havering
9.1
6.4
13.2
3.9
6.7
3.2
Hillingdon
10.8
7.1
8.6
3.9
7.0
8.5
Hounslow
5.9
4.0
7.0
4.3
6.9
10.7
Islington
8.1
3.9
4.9
6.6
5.4
8.9
Kensington and Chelsea
8.8
3.7
11.5
11.7
10.9
21.2
Kingston upon Thames
4.7
1.7
4.2
4.8
5.0
5.4
Lambeth
7.9
6.0
6.9
8.5
7.8
12.4
Lewisham
10.6
7.5
5.5
13.6
9.6
10.4
Merton
12.3
4.8
1.2
0.0
8.8
2.6
Newham
13.7
9.7
8.7
9.1
9.7
9.9
Redbridge
1.3
3.4
5.5
7.1
4.5
7.1
Richmond upon Thames
4.7
1.2
1.0
3.1
3.1
0.0
Southwark
7.8
8.6
8.8
8.5
9.1
9.6
Sutton
13.4
11.6
9.1
4.0
12.2
6.1
Tower Hamlets
9.3
10.3
9.5
7.8
8.5
12.7
Waltham Forest
6.4
7.6
6.9
6.0
2.8
4.6
Wandsworth
9.7
8.9
7.2
2.9
10.5
8.0
Westminster
9.2
5.0
4.4
3.8
5.7
12.8
Total %
9.3
8.4
8.0
7
8.2
10

Wheelchair accessible dwellings (2)

Tom Copley: Of “wheelchair user dwellings” and other new accessible housing funded by the GLA, what proportion is Specialist Older Persons’ Accommodation? What steps are you taking to make sure there are more “wheelchair user dwellings” and other accessible housing available for those of all ages who need it?

The Mayor: The GLA does not collate specific information on the proportion of GLA funded housing overall that is Specialist Older Persons housing.
To provide suitable housing and genuine choice for London’s diverse population, including disabled people, older people and families with young children, my draft London Plan Policy D5 Accessible housing aims to increase housing choice and the proportion of London’s housing stock which is accessible and adaptable. It requires at least 10 per cent of (new build) dwellings to be ‘wheelchair user dwellings’, and all other (new build) dwellings to be ‘accessible and adaptable’. Policy H15 Specialist older persons housing requires boroughs to work with providers to identify sites which may be suitable for specialist older persons housing taking account of local housing needs information, including indicative annual benchmarks provided in table 4.4 in the draft Plan.
Through my Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund, I am making at least £100m of capital funding available to deliver specialist homes for older and disabled Londoners. My Homes for Londoners team continue to work with registered providers and local authorities to develop more specialist homes.

Affordable Housing Acquisitions

Tom Copley: Following on from my question 2019/14468, according to MHCLG Live Table 1011, the GLA funded 290 Affordable Housing Acquisition and Rehab starts in 2017/18, and 204 completions. Can you confirm:
That these are not included in the GLA Affordable Housing Statistics published quarterly


How much funding was given by the GLA towards these?
If the answer to b) is the same as your answer to 2019/14468, that you do not track the data, can you explain why this is?

The Mayor: I can confirm that:
My officers would be happy to meet you to explain why the answer to (2) differs from that to Mayor's Question 2019/14468.

Local Bus Network Area Studies

Joanne McCartney: What geographic areas in Enfield & Haringey will be subject to an area study/review of the local bus network and their proposed timelines?

The Mayor: My Transport Strategy identifies that demand for bus services is likely to increase in outer London, where there is the greatest potential to get people out of their cars onto buses, trains and bicycles. I am committed to working with Transport for London (TfL) on re-shaping the bus network so that resources are available to match this demand.
TfL plans to undertake studies of the bus network in Wood Green/Meridian Water early next year with a further study of the bus network in Highgate planned for early 2021.

Tram Oversight Assurance Panel

Caroline Pidgeon: In documents you provided in your response to Question 2018/2996a reference is made to the tram oversight assurance panel. Who were the members of this panel, who did it report toand what were its terms of reference?

The Mayor: The documents Transport for London (TfL) provided in response to Mayor's Question 2018/2996 included minutes of the meetings referred to in the answers to Mayor's Questions 2018/2994 and 2018/2995, which provided the meeting dates and names of attendees. They are headed “Oversight Assurance Meeting” or “London Trams Oversight Assurance Meeting”. This is the same joint panel attended by FirstGroup and TfL and not a different panel.